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Mushroom picking help & identification...

Albion

Albion

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
11,070
I live in the UK, West Berkshire, in a small village surrounded by woodland and the occasional field of grass. I know that magic mushrooms like liberty caps are bound to grow around my area, and that we are coming into mushroom picking season, but I have never picked before and need as much help as possible with knowing where to look & what to pick.

I picked a selection of fungi as I walked around earlier, and some identification would be great :D

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(I also spotted a Fly Agaric but it looked so rotten and eaten I didn't dare touch it, though I know exactly where it is located if I can get over its hideous appearance).

Also, obviously I don't plan on eating any of these unless someone gives me the green light.

Cheers, guys
 
the 4th one down is some sort of Boletes sp. Not sure which one specifically cause your specimen is a bit rotten there. But the one thing that is obvious about it is the red pore surface. Boletes with red pore surfaces are almost always going to be bad news. Don't ingest any boletes with red pores.

The other mushrooms are hard to tell from the pictures for me...
 
Buy a book. I have a small one to take with me, and a large one for reference when I get home. The expenditure is worth it if it saves your life. I have brought a Death Cap home before, and only identified it with reference to the big book. Had I not, I would be dead. However, I pick many mushrooms for culinary use. If you only want liberty caps, just take some pictures of liberty caps with you, and only pick the mushrooms that look like it. Psilocybin-containing mushrooms bruise blue, which can be a very useful aid in identification.
 
None of them look like Liberty Caps I'm afraid (If they are solely what you're looking for). Also try and snap at the stem rather than ripping the mushroom out of the ground, that way the mushroom can grow back again rather than dying.

Yerg said:
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms bruise blue, which can be a very useful aid in identification.
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Very good advice when it comes to mushroom picking in the UK at least. I've heard of Psilocybin varieties that don't bruise blue (I think), however they aren't native to the UK so you won't have to worry about that added confusion!
 
Volundr said:
None of them look like Liberty Caps I'm afraid (If they are solely what you're looking for). Also try and snap at the stem rather than ripping the mushroom out of the ground, that way the mushroom can grow back again rather than dying.



Very good advice when it comes to mushroom picking in the UK at least. I've heard of Psilocybin varieties that don't bruise blue (I think), however they aren't native to the UK so you won't have to worry about that added confusion!
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The fouth one down bruised blue, none of the others did, but I highly suspect it to be poisonous, not least because it's rotten. I might go and collect the fly agaric I found. I'm not solely looking for liberty caps, it's just that liberty caps are the only Psilocybin containing mushroom I've had any experience taking. Anything living in this forest that can make me trip balls I'm all for picking :D
 
There are other mushrooms that bruise blue, be careful using that rule of thumb by itself. The best method is to educate yourself. The one best rule for working with mushrooms you pick yourself: if in doubt throw it out! Don't consume any mushroom you are less than 100%sure of its safety.

The 4rth one down, as mentioned, is a Bolete of some sort. There are several boletes that bruise blue. None of the red pored ones should be consumed by beginners, as most of them are considered poisonous. There are a couple boletes that bruise blue and are in fact edible (not psychoactive) but I wouldn't bother with them until you are much more experienced identifying mushrooms in your area. Most mushrooms have look a like mushrooms that can be poisonous, if not deadly, at least 3 days worth of dealing with shits and puking and stomach cramping that will make you wish it had been lethal instead...
 
Well, liberty caps are the only Psilocybe species native to the British Isles. That's all you're gonna find. Fly agaric is not really similar to Liberty Caps, or to any classical psychedelic (from what I've heard, I've never taken it).

As you have found, the fact that Psilocybe bruise blue does not mean that anything that bruises blue is Psilocybe. Tread with caution.
 
CatfishRivers said:
There are other mushrooms that bruise blue, be careful using that rule of thumb by itself. The best method is to educate yourself. The one best rule for working with mushrooms you pick yourself: if in doubt throw it out! Don't consume any mushroom you are less than 100%sure of its safety.

The 4rth one down, as mentioned, is a Bolete of some sort. There are several boletes that bruise blue. None of the red pored ones should be consumed by beginners, as most of them are considered poisonous. There are a couple boletes that bruise blue and are in fact edible (not psychoactive) but I wouldn't bother with them until you are much more experienced identifying mushrooms in your area. Most mushrooms have look a like mushrooms that can be poisonous, if not deadly, at least 3 days worth of dealing with shits and puking and stomach cramping that will make you wish it had been lethal instead...
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Don't worry the bolete is going straight in the compost heap. I'll collect the fly agaric and post a photo tomorrow, but it did look grim.
 
Yeah I didn't mean to solely use that as a rule, but it certainly helps identifying between similar candidates.



For example:

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Is a Panaeolus Sphinctrinus

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Is a liberty Cap, they look similar but the bottom will bruise blue the top will not.


Oh and Ingerland, Psilocybe cyanescens is also native the UK and Ireland.
 
Is there a chance of Liberty Caps growing in the forest then? I'm not too keen on invading farmland with the farmer's house overlooking the field to search through cow shit
 
Oh and Ingerland, Psilocybe cyanescens is also native the UK and Ireland.
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Learn something new every day! Your turn: My user name is Yerg, my location is Ingerland. :)
 
Yerg said:
Learn something new every day! Your turn: My user name is Yerg, my location is Ingerland. :)
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Lol, sorry wasn't paying attention haha

JSPete said:
Is there a chance of Liberty Caps growing in the forest then? I'm not too keen on invading farmland with the farmer's house overlooking the field to search through cow shit
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Liberty Caps grow on slightly raised pastures rather than in forests im afraid. Psilocybe cyanescens grow in decidous forest, however they are much rarer than Liberty Caps as far as i'm aware.
 
JSPete said:
Too busy devising ingenious ways to break into farmland ;)
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When it comes to farmland, if there is a gate, as far as I'm aware, it is legal to "walk through". Whenever I go wild camping or walking through places I really shouldn't the old "We're part of a DoE expedition only we're lost" excuse is always ready to be used, however anyone past their mid 20s might struggle to convincingly pull this off :p
 
my advice is to look for a local who is an "expert" in the field. They can teach you what to pick and how to distinguish different species.
 
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