Another mushroom ID

yogibear77

I have a few different types of mushrooms growing in my garden this year. Some I have never seen before. Am curious to know what they are. I have tried to attach a couple of photos of one type.

The other I don't have a photo of. They were perfect round balls. You couldn't see the gills it was like they were sealed.

Any one know why these would appear when they never have before?

New Home

I definitely wouldn't bet my life on it (as in, do NOT eat them), but I'd say they could be armillaria something or other.

Mushrooms have spores that are carried by the wind, they spread through those or through filament-like roots.

New Home

The ball-shaped ones could be puffballs, or they could be an early-stage amanita phalloides, or a huge number of other mushrooms.

yogibear77

Oh I don't intend to eat them. One reason being they are in the front garden and there are a lot of dogs around :eek:

I cut the grass earlier and went over them with the mower. Don't know if that was a good or bad idea. I was afraid to handle them cos I had never seen them before.

armillaria - I've had a look and they look similar to some of these. There are near a tree, could they harm it?

Had a look at pics of puffballs too and it looks like either a very small type of these or very young ones as they were about the size of a ping pong ball.

New Home

It depends on the type of armillaria. Lots of them do, they can cause the death of a tree (look up armillaria mycelium).

Some of them (like Armillaria Mellea and Armillaria Tabascens) are edible (quite tasty, in fact), provided they've been thoroughly cooked (first boil them, then throw the water away, rinse them, and sautée them with oil, fresh garlic and some salt), and provided they've not been frozen. They contain a toxin that is eliminated when the mushroom has been boiled, but that gets fixed into the mushroom when it freezes (this includes when it's in the snow), at which point it can't be eliminated with cooking at all. They can also be dangerous if they've grown on contaminated soil. They're perfectly fine to handle, just wash your hands thoroughly afterwards, or wear gloves if you're super-worried.

Unless your dogs are truffle dogs, you're safe, I'm pretty sure they're not interested in mushrooms.

Also, just to reiterate, do NOT eat them unless you're sure of what you're doing.

yogibear77

New Home wrote: »

It depends on the type of armillaria. Lots of them do, they can cause the death of a tree (look up armillaria mycelium).

Some of them (like Armillaria Mellea and Armillaria Tabascens)

I would never pick wild mushrooms to eat. That's very interesting about freezing them and the toxins.

I looked up both of those and am still not sure which they are.

There were 2 clumps of them a couple of feet away from the tree. The tree was there when we moved in. It's not very old less there 10 years. Should I be worried about it? Is there anything I should or can do?

New Home

The clumps could very well be linked to each other. Lift them, including the root ball, see if you can follow any mycelium that you can find and remove that, too. I don't know if there's anything else more specific you can do. Before they "sprout", you should see a thick white mould growing on the wood, it can be both flat and look like it's been painted on, or "furry", like thick plush velvet. You can scrape that away and pour boiling water over it away from anywhere the boiling water could cause harm. What kind of tree is it? If it's something with a thick bark, the mushrooms may grow under it and crack it when they grow (like grass or tree roots can do with tarmac).

Giveaway

seen this in my parents' garden its one single mycelium and it infiltrates dead tree roots

New Home

It also infiltrates live trees and causes their death.

yogibear77

It looks like it's a type of maple. Should I be worried?

Will have a look tomorrow and do a little digging.

thanks so much for your help

New Home

yogibear77 wrote: »

It looks like it's a type of maple. Should I be worried?

Will have a look tomorrow and do a little digging.

thanks so much for your help

https://www.google.com/search?q=maple%2Barmillaria&safe=active&client=firefox-b-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjuuMfooZPeAhVRxhoKHdRlAs8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=645


Looks like it might (provided it IS armillaria). Your best bet is to take a good look around, dig a bit around the surface of the soil aroind the tree (grass root level should be plenty), and keep checking every couple of weeks or so. If nothing appears, you should be ok. Just keep it monitored to be on the safe side.

yogibear77

Oh no! :eek: It wouldn't surprise me if the tree is infected because it doesn't look the strongest. myself and the OH have both commented the last couple of years that it look like it's struggling.

There is a flower bed around the tree with bark mulch so will be easy to have a look......fingers crossed

yogibear77

Forgot to ask when I dig around the tree is it mycelium that I'm looking for?

New Home

Both mould and mycelium. Have a quick look on the web, there are lots of images of what you should be looking for. There may be also some useful info on how to contain the "infestation" and how to save the tree.

Mind you, if they've grown quite far from the tree, it's possible that they've only attacked one root, for the time being, or that they've grown on some other bit of wood that's lodged under the grass.

gozunda

yogibear77 wrote: »

Oh no! :eek: It wouldn't surprise me if the tree is infected because it doesn't look the strongest. myself and the OH have both commented the last couple of years that it look like it's struggling.

There is a flower bed around the tree with bark mulch so will be easy to have a look......fingers crossed

Bark mulch may carry mycelium and spores from dead trees. What age is the tree?

Edit: strangely though not Armillaria sps. ...

See: https://www.hortweek.com/pest-disease-management-honey-fungus/arboriculture/article/1105422

yogibear77

New Home wrote: »

Both mould and mycelium. Have a quick look on the web, there are lots of images of what you should be looking for. There may be also some useful info on how to contain the "infestation" and how to save the tree.

Mind you, if they've grown quite far from the tree, it's possible that they've only attacked one root, for the time being, or that they've grown on some other bit of wood that's lodged under the grass.

Thanks, will have a Google.

yogibear77

gozunda wrote: »

Bark mulch may carry mycellium and spores from dead trees. What age is the tree?

Oh feck! Didn't know that.

Not sure. The previous owners planted it, the house is about 16 years old

RebelButtMunch

If I'm not mistaken the fungus is eating dying wood. Not causing the dying.

New Home

It depends on the fungus. This one (like I said, provided it IS armillaria) kills its host.

From Wikipedia (I'm too lazy to look elsewhere ); this is specifically for armillaria mellea, but other armillaria fungi act in a very similar way.

It is a plant pathogen [...] It causes Armillaria root rot in many plant species and produces mushrooms around the base of trees it has infected. The symptoms of infection appear in the crowns of infected trees as discoloured foliage, reduced growth, dieback of the branches and death. [...] (It) grows typically on hardwoods but may be found around and on other living and dead wood or in open areas.

Trees become infected by Armillaria mellea when rhizomorphs growing through the soil encounter uninfected roots. Alternatively, when infected roots come into contact with uninfected ones the fungal mycelium may grow across. The rhizomorphs invade the trunk, growing between the bark and the wood and causing wood decay, growth reduction and mortality. Trees that are already under stress are more likely to be attacked but healthy trees may also be parasitized. The foliage becomes sparse and discoloured, twig growth slows down and branches may die back. When they are attacked, the Douglas-fir, western larch and some other conifers often produce an extra large crop of cones shortly before dying. Coniferous trees also tend to ooze resin from infected areas whereas broad-leaved trees sometimes develop sunken cankers. A growth of fruiting bodies near the base of the trunk confirms the suspicion of Armillaria root rot.

yogibear77

So I went digging and this is what I found....

first pic -when I dug up what was left of the mushrooms they seemed to be self contained there were no roots spread out though the soil around them....

Pic 2 and 3 when I went digging in the bark mulch I found this white powder stuff. Can't figure out if it just the bark mulch breaking down or if it's mycelium.

New Home

It's fungus mould in the bark. Fungi are one of the means through which wood breaks down.

yogibear77

New Home wrote: »

It's fungus mould in the bark. Fungi are one of the means through which wood breaks down.

Thanks for all your help. I will keep an eye on the tree and hopefully it's not root rot

Velvet shank

Definitely not Armillaria; gills staying white on maturity is a clear indication of this

New Home

Good to know, thanks.

Velvet shank

I'm thinking Lyophyllum decastes (clustered domecap) ...

New Home

This seems to be a good website (keeping in mind that the colours of the photos can be distorted). https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/index1binom.php

EDIT: Sorry, I meant that. ^^^

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/lyophyllum-decastes.php
https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/armillaria-mellea.php

yogibear77

New Home wrote: »

This seems to be a good website (keeping in mind that the colours of the photos can be distorted). https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/index1binom.php

EDIT: Sorry, I meant that. ^^^

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/lyophyllum-decastes.php
https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/armillaria-mellea.php

That's a great site. Thanks.

They do look very like the clustered domecap.....I hope thats what they are

Hocus Focus

Here is a good website for identifying fungi: https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/

Hocus Focus

Here is a link to a useful site for identifying wild edible and inedible fungi:
https://www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/