CA, Southern California, 20071015
Madison Heights, two mushrooms.
Russula pectinatoides []
Lawn, W side of Oakland, past first drive going S from Fillmore, between sidewalk and road, under oak?
| | GEN | | medium mushroom, scattered in lawn, mild odor, no taste to mildly acrid in age |
| | ST | | ~30x15mm, straight, solid, firm like cap, smooth, white, brittle |
| | CAP | | 70-90mm, contorted and convex, smooth, pale yellowish to brownish, darker in center |
| | FLESH | | white, Russula-textured, firm, unchanging |
| | GILL | | whitish, brittle, somewhat close |
| | SPORE | | print white to sl creamy, round to sl ellip, low amyloid spines and some short ridges, 6.3-7.9x5.6-6.6um |
Hard to find info on
Russula on the web. Stressing the pure white, unchanging stalk and flesh, and non-acrid taste, I come up with
R. brevipes from the key in
Arora. Darvin suggests
R. pectinatoides. Tasting it the following day (and not immediately after tasting the
Lactarius below!) it
does have a mildly acrid taste.
Lactarius alnicola []
Lawn, S side of Arden, halfway E of El Molina, lawn under big oak, large fruiting.
| | GEN | | large mushroom, scattered densely in lawn, under oak, v acrid taste |
| | ST | | ~30x15mm, tapered, cap-colored, darker below, hollow, bleeding white a little bit (aging yellowish), brittle |
| | CAP | | 80-100mm wide, plane to depressed, light golden-brown, faintly zoned but no detectable fibrils or scales even at 30x (must be there but dissolved in rain?) |
| | FLESH | | white, Russula-textured, staining faintly and v slowly yellowish, firm |
| | GILL | | cap-colored to almost orangish, white beads but hard to get it to bleed when cut, fairly close, shallow (3mm deep) |
| | SPORE | | print v pale orangish, round, low amyloid reticulate ridges, 6.9-8.9x5.9-7.6um |
Arora only gets as far as the group, as usual. Sources on web suggest
L. alnicola itself as the common one under live oak in California.
Agaricus bernardii []
E side of Hudson not far N of Arden, in lawn. Set of old ones. Checked for this much-vaunted briny/iodine odor. I just barely could convince myself it was a bit briny, but if that's it, I would hardly go around stressing it as one of the critical discriminants! The more useful feature appears to be pinkish blush in cracks and divots taken out of the cap.
Boletus subtomentosus []
NW corner of Hudson and Arden, in lawn. Several scattered, almost hidden in grass.
Chlorophyllum molybdites []
Beautiful set on N side of Arden not far W of Oak Knoll. In grass between sidewalk and road.
Pisolithus arrhizus []
Several scattered in leaves at base of coast live oak on W side of Lake in that island park thingy N or Arden.
Psathyrella candolleana []
A few faded ones (fibrils still visible though) scattered in lawn on S side of Arden, not far W of Oak Knoll.
puffball
Clump of young ones at base of E-most oak on N side of Fillmore just W of Los Robles.
| | CAP | | smooth, round, white, rooted |
| | FLESH | | white and somewhat soft when young, waiting for it to mature |
Bovista pila []
Old one by first driveway on N side of Fillmore going E from Los Robles.
| | CAP | | relatively smooth, mottled brownish, round, ~60mm wide, base obtuse but not sterile, skin v thin, rupturing irregularly at top, apparently no root (was free of the ground when I found it) |
| | FLESH | | no structure visible| spore mass | | medium ochre brown, powdery, soft |
|
| | SPORE | | brown, smooth, ellip to tear-drop, apic, no texture visible inside, 4.9-6.5x3.6-4.3um |
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