ID this fungi please

[smojo]

Found several of these in my woods. Small, mostly about 20-40mm dia cap. Cap very slightly slippery but had velvety feel. Some had the cracked pattern some didn't. Stalk bright yellow. Smelled really strong mushroom. Pretty sure it's not Cep or Penny Bun. Think I know but what do you think?

[oldclaypaws]

Looks like Boletus Chrysenteron. If you bruise the foamy underside it turns a turquoise blue. They are supposed to be edible but I don't think much of them, rather slimy and tasteless. When bigger, the upper surface breaks into a multi coloured crazy paving pattern. Quite common.

[smojo]

Nope mate I don't think it is. That one has a reddish stalk but mine are bright yellow. On the right track though.

[oldclaypaws]

The stalk of Chrysenteron isn't necessarily red, it varies and can be yellow dependant on age. Looks like one to me; the bright yellow spongy underside and breaking texture on the top look typical.

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[smojo]

Does look very much like it but I thought it might be oak bolete - boletus apendiculatus and it is growing close to some oak trees.

[oldclaypaws]

The Oak Bolete has a distinctive wide bulbous stipe (yours doesn't), and is quite rare in the UK. It also has a very dense 'foamy' layer of pores, whereas the Chrysenteron has a more open spongy pore layer (like yours) and is common.

There are thousands of Fungi and it might sometimes take a real specialist to identify them. I've picked and eaten wild mushies for about 30 years and still find many I've not seen before or don't recognise. Very partial to Blewitts which are very distinctive and delicious, although a degree of care is required and for eating stick to the clearly identifiable tasty ones. I did find 3 Death Caps in my wood, the first I've seen, which was rather exciting, its absolutely lethal and the most poisonous mushroom known, it causes a lot of deaths as it looks similar to many edible mushrooms and apparently tastes delicious before it destroys your liver and does you in. Excruciating death, apparently. Happy picking !

Trying to learn what things are is part of the excitement of having a wood. I'd recommend a simple little pocket guide, such as 'A colour guide to familiar Mushrooms and Fungi' by Svrcek, it describes the best distinctive eating ones and cautions if they look like dangerous ones. Theres currently a 'very good' used one on Amazon for 1p !

[smojo]

Ta must take closer look next visit. Just bought a very good Collins book of fungi but as you say, there are so many. Not brave enough to eat any unless they come from Tescos

[calvertwood]

My favourite fungus book is Roger Phillips's Mushrooms, but it's a bit of a lump to carry round, and I wouldn't want to get it wet. However, there's a good app which is derived from it, called Rogers Mushrooms, which is available for iPhone and probably other flavours of phone. Its advantage for field use is that you probably have your phone to hand when in the wood, and it doesn't need a data connection. There's a free version, with a limited dataset, and a pro version which is a snip at £2.49.

One other option, which I've used a couple of times, but you need a strong data signal and a bigger screen than most phones have, is MycoKey Online (http://www.mycokey.com/newMycoKeySite/MycoKeyIdentQuick.html). It comes from a couple of Danish academics, it's free (in the version referenced), it's interactive, it's comprehensive, and it's simply superb for fungus identification.

[Lunar Wood]

Roger Phillips Mushroom app is pretty good and there is really nothing else like it, as far as I know.
However it does weigh in at just over 2gb... 1/8 of most phones storage!