Anyone know a good source for mushroom identification?

[FloridaJudy]

I was just out walking the dog, and I saw a weird looking mushroom growing across the street. I'm not planning to eat it, I just want to know WTF it is, before I get devoured by triffids...

[Lance_Boyle]

1. this guy:

[Deja Q]

5. Not quite... try these guys:

[lazyriver]

2. There are a number of good field guides but mushroom

identification can be quite tricky often requiring a look at spores under a microscope. It is wise to not even touch a mushroom unless you can ID it positively. Some can make you sick or even kill you just by touching them.

[csziggy]

3. Here are some sites

http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu/News%20columns/Wild.Mushrooms.htm

http://www.nettally.com/annep/FloridaFungi/contents.html

http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/kimbrough/Textbook/NonCultivatedEdibleFungi_blue.htm

[FloridaJudy]

8. Got it.

It's a 'magpie fungus'. Supposed to be recognizable by its terrible odor, but I wasn't going to get close enough to smell it. Still won't. The thing looks creepy, as if it might walk around when my back is turned.

[csziggy]

10. To be sure, if you are still where your profile lists, check out UF

And find their fungi experts. Of course, some of the best people and ones that are most willing to help, are the amateurs rather than the professors, but they might could hook you up with someone.

[XemaSab]

4. What did it look like?

:shrug:

[FloridaJudy]

7. A huge white barnacle

Or one of those weird tube worms that only grow on the sides of volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean.

[HopeHoops]

6. There is only one essential reference...

"The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms"

And don't EVER, EVER, EVER assume you have identified it correctly without taking a spore print!!!

[Mugu]

9. I ran across a couple of strange ones last summer.

The top of this one is about the size of a half dollar.




This one was on a piece of rotting lumber and is about the size of two pencil erasers.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Divining rods.

If the rods don't react, it's safe to eat.

[Schema Thing]

12. Since Marilyn Chambers passed?

[MajorChode]

13. Did she get ahold of some bad shrooms?