Identifying Mushrooms

[Guv Bob]

Howdy folks, can someone identify these front yard mushrooms and give me =
some pointers on how to tell if they are edible or not? Location is So =
Calif.
Thanks in advance.
Bob

[Guv Bob]

PS - They are in various stages of development but are all the same = type. Small ones are 2-3 inches and 2-inches high. Large ones are 4-inch = across and 3-4 inches high.
Howdy folks, can someone identify these front yard mushrooms and give me = some pointers on how to tell if they are edible or not? Location is So = Calif.
Thanks in advance.
Bob

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Guv Bob:

Google "mushroom poisoning california".
Personally, I wouldn't take the chance.
OTOH, I quit flying airplanes bc I didn't rust my competence and the penalties for human error were too severe...

[Frank]

I agree. They look like the edible kind but experts say mistake leads to most mushroom poisoning.
Lot of mushroom houses where I live and mushrooms are cheap.

[Guv Bob]

Yes, that nursing home story is very sad. This is the story I remember = a few years ago. If it's risky for this fellow it's too risky for a = novice.=20

[trader4]

There are groups of knowledgable people in many areas that go out and pick wild mushrooms. That way you learn from people who know what they are doing. There are also excellent books available that cover the subjest. But I would not rely on internet or DIY approach as one mistake and you could be dead or seriously ill. I pick wild mushrooms. I learned from my grandparents. I only know two varieties and those are what I pick. Anyone that is interested in pursuing this, I'd find a local group to learn.

[Frank]

I've seen a lot of you tubes on the morel which is said to be foolproof and looked for them last year without finding any.
I heard one of those knowledgeable mushroom hunters on TV discussing his hobby and he pointed to one mushroom that was safe to eat as long as you did not eat it too often as it could destroy one of your organs, forget which one. I'll leave this hobby to those guys ;)

[Guv Bob]

foolproof=20

Good idea. A feller's got to protect his organ.

[Frank]

Probably the kidney.

[Pico Rico]

more likely the liver.

[Frank]

Lot of stuff out there. Guess it depends on the toxin:
think the one I heard was kidney. Guy said it was safe to eat but not too often. That would scare me away.

[devinnrock]

i followed these links....the websites contain interactive images of mushrooms.

[echinosum]

They look rather old, dried up and shrivelled, which makes identification difficult. For example, gill colour is an important feature for identification, and in the pictures the gills are presenting brown. But I suspect the brown colour may be just because the mushrooms are rather old and shrivelled, rather than being their true colour.
Mushrooms with brown gills and a ring are usually Agaricus, ie, the group containing the cultivated mushroom. Most Agaricus are edible - if you are going to eat wild-collected Agaricus you need to learn about the few that aren't. You also need to be absolutely sure it isn't one of the deadly poisonous mushrooms that can be mistaken for Agaricus. One doesn't eat this kind of mushroom without being absolutely sure what they are. A key feature of identifying Agaricus is that that the ring is loose, it isn't attached to the stem. And that doesn't appear to be the case here. So I'm suspecting that this is not actually Agaricus.
Other features of the mushroom, apart from gill colour, suggest Lepiota/Macrolepiota (only recently divided into two), which includes (in Macrolepiota) the delicious and easily identified parasol mushrooms. Lepiota also includes poisonous mushrooms, so is not a group to wander outside the easily identified parasols. Well I eat parasols because they are obvious to me; others who are less sure should beware. (Macro)Lepiota should have white gills, so that feature looks wrong, but I'm wondering whether they might age brown. Old (Macro)lepiota are often riddled with grubs, so that's a reason not to eat the old ones.
The other group that Agaricus is too frequently mistaken for is Amanita, a group containing some especially deadly funguses, as well as a few of good edible ones. Amanita usually (but not all) has white gills, but gain I'm wondering how they age. One has to be very sure about this as mistakes can be fatal. My relatives eat Amanita rubescens in very large quantities, because they are used to it that they can reliably distinguish it from deadly poisonous Amanita pantherina. I'm less sure, so I won't eat it when they aren't there to check for me.
In sum, it is probably a waste of time trying to identify these as they are already long past prime eating condition. And this mushroom is bang in the middle of an area of identification where mistakes can be fatal, which would be another reason for me not to eat it at all unless you were completely sure exactly what it is. I would say you shouldn't even consider eating this unless you are already completely sure what it is, because you eat it frequently.

[Guv Bob]

=20

mushrooms

presenting

mushrooms.

Belated thanks for all this good info. FYI, the mushrooms in the photos = were fresh - taken 2 days after then first appeared in the lawn.

[micky]

My pointer would be not to go by advice online.
A few years ago there was a Vietnamese couple in California who poisened themselves and their children becaue they thought a mushroom looked like a safe muchroom from back home, but it wasn't.

[Pico Rico]

I heard that the reason so many S.E. Asian get mushroom poisoning over here is that there ARE NO poisonous mushrooms in S.E. Asia.

[Guv Bob]

me some pointers on how to tell if they are edible or not? Location is So Calif.

Excellent advice! I know mushrooms are tricky. Remember reading about an older man who was a long-time 'expert' with mushrooms. One day he picked some, fried and ate them and then died.