false mushrooms

At the beginning of autumn, when there are no frosts yet, and the weather pleases with warm sunny days, a rush begins in the forest: people stock up on mushrooms.

Particularly in demand are places with stumps and fallen trees, where you can find a lot of fragrant mushrooms, the main thing is not to run into false mushrooms. Some of them can not be eaten, as they can be poisonous, so it is better to study how they look so that the poison does not get into your basket and onto the table.

False mushrooms: photo and description

There are several types of false mushrooms. They are similar to real mushrooms in that they prefer the same habitat: they grow on stumps, deadwood, tree trunks. It happens that two types of mushrooms coexist on one stump at once: false and genuine. And they also grow up in friendly families, which also misleads inexperienced mushroom pickers. Let's find out what false mushrooms look like, and what they are.

Sulfur yellow honey agaric

Sulfur yellow honey agaric - Hypholoma fasciculare

A poisonous mushroom that grows on decaying branches and trunks of deciduous and coniferous trees, stumps and the ground around them. It bears fruit from June to October, growing in large families.

The hat of a young mushroom resembles a bell, an adult - an open umbrella. The cap diameter is 2-7 cm, the color is yellowish, yellow-gray or yellow-brown, with a darkened center.

Sulfur-yellow false honey agaric photo

Sulfur yellow honey agaric - Hypholoma fasciculare

The pulp of the sulfur-yellow honey agaric is very bitter, with an unpleasant odor, pale yellow or whitish.

The plates of the fungus that have grown to the stem are first painted in a sulfur-yellow color, later they acquire a greenish and dark olive hue.

The smooth spores of the fungus contain chocolate-brown spore powder.

The fibrous smooth leg is empty inside, painted in light yellow. The thickness of the leg is no more than 5 mm, the height is about 10 cm.

This mushroom is very poisonous - just one specimen can ruin a whole pot of authentic mushrooms! And if you eat a sulfur-yellow mushroom, after a few hours severe vomiting will open, a person will begin to sweat a lot and even lose consciousness.

Honey agaric Candoll

Honey agaric Candoll- Psathyrella candolleana

It grows on stumps and roots of deciduous (rarely coniferous) trees in large families. Fruiting from May to September.

The hat of a young mushroom has the shape of a bell, a more mature one has the shape of an open umbrella with a rounded tubercle in the middle. The diameter of the hat, painted in colors from white to yellow-brown, is 3-7 cm. The edges of the hat are decorated with a white fringe left over from the bedspread.

What false mushrooms look like Candoll photo

Candoll's honey agaric - Psathyrella candolleana

Grayish plates, turning brown over time, are attached to the stem.

Candoll mushroom has a whitish-brown flesh pleasantly smelling of mushrooms and a creamy-white empty cylindrical leg, slightly pubescent at the bottom. The thickness of the stem is 4-8 mm, the height is about 10 cm. It differs from real mushrooms in that there is no pronounced ringlet on the stem.

Is Candoll Poisonous? No, after cooking, it is quite suitable for food, as it is considered a conditionally edible mushroom.

Poppy honey agaric (gray-lamellar)

Poppy honey agaric (serolamellar) -Hypholoma capnoides

False honey agaric growing on pine stumps and deadwood, occasionally on the litter of fallen trunks and rotting roots. Fruiting from August to October.

A mushroom cap with a diameter of 3-7 cm first grows in the form of a hemisphere, later it acquires a convex-outstretched appearance. Parts of the bedspreads remain along the edges of the hats. If the environment is wet, the cap turns light brown, if dry, it turns light yellow. The middle of the hat is brighter.

False honey agaric poppy photo

The whitish pulp of poppy honey a little smells of dampness.

The plates of the fungus, adherent to the stem, are at first pale yellow, later the color of poppy seeds.

The leg is yellow at the top, red-red below, the shape is straight or curved, with a quickly disappearing ringlet. Leg thickness 3-8 mm, length - 5-10 cm.

After processing, poppy mushrooms can be eaten in the same way as ordinary mushrooms. The main thing is not to pluck old mushrooms: they become tasteless.

False honey agaric brick red

Honey agaric brick red -Hypholoma sublateritium

This false honey agaric grows on stumps and fallen trees - coniferous and deciduous. Fruiting from August to October.

The diameter of the cap is 4-8 cm. It is painted in brick-red or red-brown color, along the edges, white remains of the bedspread are often preserved. The pale yellow flesh of the mushroom has a bitter taste.

False mushrooms brick-red photo

Honey agaric brick red - Hypholoma sublateritium

Light yellow plates, later becoming brown-yellow, adhere to the stem.

The leg of the brick-red honey agaric has a trace from the ringlet (there is no ring itself), reaches a thickness of up to 1.5 cm and a height of 10 cm. The leg is painted pale yellow from above, brown from below.

It is impossible to eat such mushrooms for food, since the toxins contained in them affect the nervous system, cause vomiting, heart palpitations and dizziness, weaken, lead to increased pressure, headaches and nosebleeds. If the poisoning is severe, you can fall into a coma and die.

Now you know what false mushrooms are, and what they are. Take the collection of mushrooms seriously, carefully examining mushroom families. Do not put all mushrooms in a row in a basket, and you will protect yourself and loved ones from mushroom poisoning.