Mushroom Identification

[AndrewKulin]

Came across these in the Haliburton area (Ontario, Canada)

[attachment=23327:Fungus_for_ID.jpg]

Anyone have an idea what these white things are?  I assume a fungus of some sort, though they look almost floral.  And at one point I saw a bee/wasp poking around inside these like they would do with flowers so further confusing me as to whether fungus or flower??

[attachment=23328:Yellow_M...lattened.jpg]

And would I be correct in assuming the yellow one is poisonous?

Thanks

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Came across these in the Haliburton area (Ontario, Canada)

[attachment=23327:Fungus_for_ID.jpg]

Anyone have an idea what these white things are?  I assume a fungus of some sort, though they look almost floral.  And at one point I saw a bee/wasp poking around inside these like they would do with flowers so further confusing me as to whether fungus or flower??

[attachment=23328:Yellow_M...lattened.jpg]

And would I be correct in assuming the yellow one is poisonous?

Thanks

I can't tell you about the yellow one, but Mike probably can.


The first one is not a mushroom, but a plant that has no chlorophyll, hence the white color. It is commonly known as Indian Pipe and more officially as Monotropa uniflora. Wikipedia has a reasonable and short discussion of it.

Eric

[wolfnowl]

The first one is indeed a saprophyte (my grandmother would say "Look it up, you'll remember it longer") most commonly known as Indian Pipe.  The 'pipe' shape is obvious when they're young, and when they get to the point of releasing spores they straighten up and the inside of the 'bowl' of the pipe looks red.

The second one is probably an Amanita; they're sometimes known as Agarics.  There are a lot of different species, and my ID books are all in storage at the moment.  Best rule of thumb for mushrooms is, if you don't ABSOLUTELY know it, leave it alone.  "I saw a squirrel eating one" definitely does not work.

Mike.

[AndrewKulin]

Thank you both.  

Interesting read on Indian Pipe - Never heard of it (but I'm an engineer, not a botanist)

And on Mushrooms - I would never touch one (hate them) particularly wild ones, particularly colourful wild ones (but then again, I'm an engineer, not a mycologist).


Thanks

[Chairman Bill]

The yellow one looks like an Amanita flavoconia

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I remember going on a mushroom walk many years ago with a couple who were mushroom experts (one was then president of the Boston Mycological Society, and the other a past president). What especially impressed me was the number of times they disagreed on what type of mushroom we were looking at. Eventually they found some yellowish, irregularly-shaped mushrooms that they agreed on, and they picked them and sauteed them to serve us for dinner.

They were delicious, and that was the first time I ever had Chantarelles. But I sure wouldn't trust my own judgment to eat a wild mushroom.

Eric