Observations for your fungi notebook

CC image by Jomo

This is a Woolly milkcap, a specimen of which was brought in by Student G last week. Its scientific name is Lactarius torminosus. The 'lact' you may recognise from 'lactose' in milk: milk, because if you damage the gills they leak a white liquid. Look at all those fluffy fibres around the edge of the cap -  they're rather distinctive.

You'll need ways to describe all the strange features of your fungi - that means learning a few new words. There are some excellent pages in my Marcel Bon guide which show all the different shapes and textures of cap, gill, stipe, etc. and what the terminology is for them. I can email you a scan (in the spirit of increased mycological awareness, and not to deliberately deny M. Bon any money, since the book is long out of print). I have also made a useful list of notes and measurements you might want to take for your notebook, which I will turn into a little handout when I get a moment.

Today I was talking to mushroom-mad final year student P, who reminded me about the Danish website MycoKey. Looking today I see there's a free download of part of their new duo of books, the 'identification wheels' from The Fungi of Temperate Europe. They're super up to date taxonomically, include everything you could ever think of (and more), and have lovely photos that might help you get your mystery mushroom to the right group. (The books themselves are £95 so maybe something to aspire to). I recommend a look.