Plants With Purpose

A VIRTUAL FUNGAL FORAY

SHAGGY PARASOL MUSHROOM (Lepiota rhacodes)

Large (15-20cm), unmistakeable edible mushroom with white gills and a scaly cap on a tall. The only thing like it is Parasol Mushroom, and both are edible. Look on the stipe (stem) for a detached ring of tissue that once joined the cap to the stem. It should slide up and down the stem freely. If it doesn't it's not a parasol.
This mushroom is very tasty fried, or sliced in a casserole. Look for it in summer in pastures, grassland and the edges of woods, growing in the soil, not on a tree or stump.

AGARICUS ARVENSIS (Field Mushroom)

The well-known mushroom everyone is confident about - but be wary! Look for brown gills - but remember they are pink or almost white when in the button stage. There is a ring on the stipe - but get to the base of the mushroom... if there's a sort of cup there (called a volva) it is NOT Field Mushroom and could be deadly. If in doubt DON'T!
Delicious, needless to say, any way you choose, and grows in old pastures where animals have been grazed for years.

GIANT PUFFBALL (Lycoperdon giganteum)

We found this growing on well-grazed clifftops in North Norfolk, and we didn't eat it because they aren't very common and it was past its eat-by date anyway. But reputedly steaks of this huge, roundish fungus (12-18 inches diameter) are excellent. There is no stem, and the surface is white. Inside, if the spore-mass is turning yellow, brown or black, it will be too bitter to bother with. Small puffballs are commoner and tasty too.

THE STINKHORN (Phallus impudicus)

You can see where this one gets its name. We find it by smell - it smells like something has died. Some usually come up in our garden, but we've also found them in woods, hedgerows and roadsides. When young, all you see is the "egg" (the bit that looks like a testicle), which is full of slimy stuff and is reputedly edible and tasty. I've never fancied it.... and there is a real risk of listaking it for "eggs" or young mushrooms of very poisonous species like Death Cap. Of course, as it matures, it is hard to mistake. The spores are spread by flies attracted to the stink.

PARASOL MUSHROOM (Lepiota procera)

Slightly less scaly than the Shaggy Parasol and with a smooth stipe, this one is just as tasty and easy to recognise. Found in woods more than fields. The photo shows the moveable ring on the stipe quite clearly.

SHAGGY INK CAP (Coprinus comatus)

Really a woodland fungus, but we find it on grassy roadside verges here, too - and in our chicken run, inexplicably. Also known as Lawyer's Wig, it is identified by the tall, shaggy cap, conical and white when young, but as it opens it digests itself in a black, inky fluid, which spreads the spores. To be fried in hot butter and eaten on toast or with bacon. Don't add it to casseroles, you won't get the wonderful, delicate flavour.

CHANTERELLE (Cantherellus cibarius)

Well-known and easy to identify - but beware confusion with the False Chanterelle. In true chanterelles, there are no true gills - the underneath of the cap is wrinkled to form uneven creases in which spores form. False chanterelles have very even, clearly distinct gills. Chanterelles are easy to dry.

HONEY FUNGUS (Armillaria mellea)

A variable species - some forms have thin stems, some have thick ones and a chunky appearance. It parasitises trees, and the give-away is black threads of mycelium (called rhizomorphs) looking like bootlaces under the bark of the tree they are growing on or near (they attach to roots underground). "Honey" may refer to the colour - but this is a sweet-tasting, delicious mushroom than occurs in great numbers in the right conditions.

BLACKISH-PURPLE RUSSULA (Russula atropurpurea)

Most of the Russulas are harmless or edible - unless they are bright red. This one is wine-coloured, and very distinctively darker, almost black, in the centre of the cap. Slugs like it, but it's usually maggot-free, and has a delicious, nutty taste. Especially good fried for breakfast! White stem and gills, no ring. Look in grass under deciduous trees, sometimes conifers too, in August.