Spore and sport prints

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Last Saturday a neighbour asked me to identify a mushroom. He thought it was a Swiss Brown (Agaricus bisporus) and wanted me to confirm it. I didn't think it was but said I'd conduct a spore print for him. Later that day I found what I thought was a Swiss Brown and added it to the page. My neighbour's mushroom (on the left) left a white spore print, my mushroom (on the right) left a dark brown spore print true to Swiss Brown mushrooms.


Here's what the two mushrooms look like underneath. They are fairly aged. With mushrooms it is easier to identify them when they are younger, however spore prints are extremely helpful for identification and might just help you decide not to eat a particular mushroom that could be toxic.


On other printing news, as one of the resident artists in the local soccer team one of my jobs is to mark out the pitch. On Sunday, just before the games began, this is what it looked like. 


Our soccer club probably has more artists, food gardeners and community gardeners (non-conformists) per capita than any other club in Australia, and possibly one of the only grounds where mushrooms commonly grow amongst the weeds and introduced grasses. Our canteen is developing as a model for healthy community food – this is what I mean by non-conformist.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh how I wish we were neighbours. I too have a mushroom I would love to identify as it has grown in my greenhouse. I am not even close to game to have a go identifying it myself but it would be awesome if we had an edible shroom bed in the greenhouse. :) How does one identify? Any websites you can pint me to?
I plan on attending your course to learn about mushies as my hubby and I love them as does our eldest son (nearly 5) who will eat as many as you give him and however they're served, raw or cooked. I'd have to keep him away from the greenhouse (if they are edible) as he will do his best to break in and eat the lot!
I'm in Ballan and our back yard has looked like the soccer pitch for the last 2 days - nearly like it has snow! -6.9 was our coldest.

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