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Lepista sublilacina
DAY 1 - Mauve/pink agaric fungi. The larger specimens of this spotting are 5-6 cms in diameter. Caps feel wax-like to touch and quite hard, and the edges are smooth and rounded. Also translucent in places, and the gills are reasonably large. The stems are smooth, although slightly grainy in appearance. Signs of feeding on caps, possibly by snails or slugs. Other caps much paler and greyer in colour and warped, possibly being older than the fresh pink fungi (see photo #5 - fungi at rear). This species of fungi appears to fade in sunlight, almost to the point of turning white? TBA with further observations over the next few days. >> Images found online - https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackdiamo...
Found amongst garden mulch which was quite moist due to recent rains. Fungi scattered over an area no more than 1 m/sq. Well shaded by surrounding foliage for most of the day.
At dusk this evening these fungi almost seemed to be glowing. They appeared to be very bright in the fading light, particularly when contrasted against the darker foliage of surrounding bushes. As for my research, I know these are agaric fungi, and I'm certain this species belongs to the genus Lepista. Another mushroom that was given serious consideration was the Hygrocybe sp. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrocybe The general consensus from the folks at mushroomobserver.org however, is that this belongs to Lepista, not Hygrocybe.
Thanks, Leuba. It certainly is. Hard to believe I spotted this over 4 years ago. Time flies....
I had to google musk candy, and it definitely looks like that...But, to northeastern americans like me, it looks like salt water taffy!
The pink colour wasn't really obvious until started taking some pics. Yes, they look like musk-flavoured candy to me.
I think this is my most popular spotting. Everyone seems to love pink mushrooms. Probably cos they look like they'd be edible and sweet :)
It really pays to have a closer look at fungi, Bill. It wasn't until I went rummaging through the bushes and got up really close that I saw its beauty. I had no idea how pink it was until I took a few photos. Pretty in pink?
Thanks, Jason. This is my favourite mushroom spotting. The guys at work thought I had 'snapped my cap', but hey, look at what I could have missed and shared. My workmates know I'm weird, so what did they expect? lol
In my the thickness of the flesh of L. nuda can vary considerably. I notice because the skinny ones are barely worth eating. But it's still a good point about how much light these are letting through and they do appear bright unusual purple. I'm sticking with Lepista, although I'll admit that I'm not as confident as before and I think a Australasian relative is more likely than L. nuda.
Here's some links to cross-sections showing why a L nuda would never allow light through the cap but Hygrocybes would. Note the thickness of the actual cap flesh (not including gills) in either.
L nuda pileus section http://www.wildmushroomsonline.co.uk/Edi... and typical hygrocybe http://curbstonevalley.com/wp-content/up... Neil's images show several examples proving the cap flesh is like tissue paper even near the centre. That's what gives it the 'glow'.
It would be pretty neat to get one named. I think you might want to check what's involved though - paperwork, analyses (including DNA and microscopic?), submissions, reviews etc. I think it takes years but I'm sure an appropriate hat would help enormously. Looking forward to the trial run on FB.
I think it destroyed too many livers or kidneys, so I doubt it. I'll have a lovely cup of tea instead :-) Also, that means that 95% of Oz fungi are waiting to be discovered. Can you imagine what it would be like to discover a new species? How exciting that would be to make a little contribution to science that's unique. I'm gonna get myself a special mushroom-hunting hat. Gotta look the part :-)
Humidicutis, Hygrophorus, Hygrocybe are all synonymous for lewellinae. Keep in mind only 5% of Oz fungi are described so far and most are unique to this part of the world. Enjoy the Bex... (can you still buy that stuff?)
You are a legend, Mark, and you know your stuff. I'm getting so confused with all the different genus names. To look at it I would say that Jerry's spotting is exactly the same as mine, but to do an images search for Humidicutis lewellinae, there's not one that looks remotely like either. The only other image I've found which looked exactly like mine was identified as Hygrocype sp., although this may have been incorrect. The mushroom people reckon this is Lepista. Mushrooms giv me a headache. I need a bex and a lie down :-/
Gill density and cap translucency really bother me for L nuda. Let's see another example of L nuda cap allowing light through like these do. Humidicutis lewellinae are only on east coast of Oz so MO comments (from overseas) should therefore be treated accordingly. The only problem I have with Humidicutis lewellinae is the caps should develop several splits between the gills after a few days whereas yours has a few only. Here's (your neighbour) Jerry Colby-Williams (you know Jerry!) version of Humidicutis lewellinae http://jerry-coleby-williams.net/favouri...
Lapista nuda is certainly a contender, although the images I've seen of this species don't have the deep gills that mine have. Many thanks for your suggestion, gully.moy :-)
I'm totally hooked on mushrooms. They are amazing. Yours is a beautiful spotting, namitha, and thanks too for your comments sarah in the woods and sintija. Much appreciated.
Congratulations Neil! Beautiful spotting, never seen something like this in the wild. When I first saw this I thought, hey they look like flamingo oyster mushrooms. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/370...
[from the very basic knowledge I have of mushrooms :)].
The world of mushrooms is pretty Awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Spotted on Jul 2, 2013
Submitted on Jul 3, 2013
+3
