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Field Characteristics

Important field characteristics:

It is important to familiarise yourself with the significant macroscopic features that will help you to identify your mushroom or toadstool. The following information will help to focus you. The three most important features that you will need to take account of are:

The spore colour
How the gill joins onto the stem
The shape of the stem / stipe (particularly the base)

Spore colour

You may be able to find evidence of the spore colour on leaves or other caps below your toadstool. It is however strongly recommended that you take a spore print by leaving a cap on white surface for an hour or so, as most identification guides and keys will start by asking you the colour of the spores. Spores vary considerably in colour between the genera.

Cortinarius (webcap) species have various shades of rusty brown spores.

Spore colour is a particularly important character for Russulas (brittle gills) which vary from white to dark cream.

The surface and surrounding vegetation are covered in thick cocoa-like spore deposits from this Ganoderma.

Don't confuse gill colour with spore colour. This Laccaria amethystina has purple gills but a white spore print

Spore producing surfaces of mushrooms and toadstools

Before deciding on the gill attachment you need to be able to distinguish the different spore producing surfaces (i.e. hymenium) in toadstools.

Folds Like blunt edged gills e.g. Cantharellus, Craterellus

Gills e.g. Agaricus, Collybia, Conocybe, Hygrocybe, Lepiota, Mycena etc

Teeth e.g. Hydnum and Sarcodon

Pores e.g. Suillus and Boletus

Gill attachment to the stem

Examine specimens to familiarise yourself with the basic types of gill attachments.

Sinuate or emarginate: Sinuate – gill has a concave indentation near the stipe e.g. species of Cortinarius, Entoloma, Tricholoma.

Adnate: Gill attached to stipe by its full depth e.g. species of Agrocybe, most species of Conocybe, Galerina, Russula and many others.

Decurrent: Gills extend downwards on the stipe e.g. species of Clitocybe, Omphalina, Rickenella.

Adnexed: Gills much narrower where attached to the stipe. Many species have this gill attachment.

Stem (stipe) shapes

Careful examination of the stipe, right to the base, can yield important clues.

Bulbous base e.g. some Inocybe (I. rimosa, I. maculata).

Marginately bulbous base: e.g. some Cortinarius, Inocybe (I. cookie, I. grammata, I. godeyi, I. napipes). Rooting base e.g. Hebeloma radicosum, Hypholoma radicosum, Xerula radicata

Tapering: most marked in Collybia fusipes.

Ring types

Some of the cobwebby rings can disappear very quickly – don’t forget to check the stem (stipe) and edge of the cap for fibres that might be all that is left of a cortina (the name of a cobwebby ring). Having young material of your toadstool will help with this enormously.

Cobwebby ring or cortina this is a key feature for the huge genus Cortinarius but not unique to this genus.Cortinas also occur in someHebeloma, Inocybe andLepiota species.
Double ring e.g.Macrolepiota species
Hoop like ring e.g. Coprinus comatus, Amanita pantherina.
Pleated skirt like ring e.g.Amanita excelsa.
Skirt like hanging ring e.g.Amanita muscaria, A. phalloides.
Stocking like / sheath like e.g. Cortinarius torvus, Phaeolepiota aurea.

Cobwebby partial veil or cortina still partially intact on the younger fruit body.

The skirt-like ring of Amanita muscaria.

Volva types

The volva is a sac-like structure formed at the base of the stem from veil remains. In Britain, only Amanita species (white spores), Cortinarius caperatus (a brown spored species with a very weak volva, appearing as Rozites caperatus in any but the most recent books) and Volvariella species (pink spored), have volvas. The nature of the volva is very important in identifying Amanita species. Note that if the toadstool is not collected properly, it is easy to loose this feature.

Amanita fulva showing distinct volva with rusty spots.

Friable volva as concentric rings at the base of the stem of Amanita muscaria.

Amanita fulva showing distinct volva

Cap shape, colour and consistency:

A small, labelled sketch of your collection can give you as much information as a page full of notes. Look at the outline of the cap - is it conical, flat or with a central depression or nipple. Is the surface smooth, radially fibrillose (fibrous) or scaly. Is it dry, sticky or covered in gluten (remember this will vary according to the weather). If possible comment on how these features might have changed as the fruit body expands to maturity. Write down what you see - it is unlikely to look exactly like the pictures in field guides.

Some caps are covered with small scales like this one. Nothing to do with any veil remains.

Some caps are radially fibrillose and have a sharp bump or umbo in the centre.

Some caps are apparently covered in fine hairs.

Glutenous caps are obvious when wet but less obviously so when dry, in which case they are often sticky when dampened.

‘Milking’ - or not

The exudation of a milky fluid or latex when flesh or gills are damaged is a characteristic feature of the genus Lactarius and a primary difference between this genus and Russula. The colour of the fluid, whether the colour changes and whether it is hot or mild (see also ‘Taste’) are all useful aids to species identification. Here are some characteristic milk colours and tastes. N.B. only taste a small amount and do not swallow it.

Pink milk of Lactarius acris

Yellow milk of Lactarius chrysorrheus

Cap cuticle – does it peel?

This character is particularly important in identification of Russula species. Try examining a range of species to see how much they peel. The best technique to use for this character is to pinch the edge of the cap with the fingernails and gently peel back the cuticle until it breaks.

Peels completely e.g. Russula betularum, R. emetica, R. fragilis, R. lutea.
Peels ¼ to ¾ of cap radius e.g. R. atropurpurea, R. claroflava, R. cyanoxantha, R. ochroleuca.
Peels hardly at all (up to 1/5) e.g. R. chloroides, R. decolorans, R. delica, R. lepida, R. sardonia.

Smell: Check out with your nose!

Some people find this character very difficult. Practice does help, particularly with naming the smell! Note that very old, very dry or very wet material is unlikely to hold the smell typical of a particular species. Smell is best detected by sniffing the gills of the toadstool and if necessary by bruising them. Occasionally the smell is confined mostly to the base of the stem (Russula turci – iodoform,Cortinarius stillatitius - honey). Always check the smell at the time of collection and make a note – sometimes the smell is fleeting. Here are some common smells.

Taste

Only taste a collection if a key or book specifically indicates that it is of significance. For Russula andLactarius species, taste is particularly important. For Russulatake a very small portion of the gills on the tongue and do not swallow. For Lactarius see ‘Milk’ above.

Usually acrid, hot or peppery e.g. Chalciporus piperatus, Russula betularum,R. sardonia, Tricholoma album.
Usually mild e.g. Russula adusta, R. cyanoxantha, R. heterophylla.
Usually bitter e.g. Boletus calopus, Tricholoma sejunctum, Tylopilus felleus.
Meally e.g. Entoloma sericuem, Tricholoma portentosum.
Nutty e.g. Boletus edulis.
Bad cabbage e.g.Hemimycena mairi(when chewed – hmm, yummy!)

Other features to note:

Flesh brittle of cheesy consistency – this means a dry crumbly cheese like Cheshire or Wensleydale! It is specifically characteristic of Russula and Lactarius and is particularly noticeable in the gills. This is because of the cell structure in the flesh particular to these two genera.

Stipe tough and fibrous or cartilaginous - this is a feature particularly of Collybia andMarasmius. Marasmius collections can be revived by wetting after drying out – you might like to try this out.

Useful references for macro features:

Marriott J.V.R. 1994 Guides for the amateur mycologist 2. Guide to identification with a microscope. British Mycological Society
Stuntz D.E. & Largent D.L. How to Identify Mushrooms to Genus: Macroscopic Features v. 1. Mad River Press
Watling R. 1973 Identification of the larger fungi. Hulton Educational Publications Ltd. (out of print)

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