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October 1, 2009 : Agaricus augustus
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Plant Family / Families: Agaricaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Agaricus augustus Fries
Institution: University of British Columbia Botanical Garden
Name Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Randal Mindell contributes today's photos and write-up. Thanks Randal.
Right around the turn of September, staff here at the garden noticed these viscerally impressive giant mushrooms emerging from leaf litter beneath a western red cedar and evergreen oak in the David C. Lam Asian Garden. Then the slugs discovered it. Then we photographed it. Who else is eating this? It strikes me that the study of fungivory remains wide open. Perhaps some readers might have some personal experiences.
The giant agaric (also known as "The Prince"), Agaricus augustus, grows to about 30cm wide. It is collected all over the Northern Hemisphere, where gourmands prize it as much for its "meaty" flavor as for its bulk. If the generic name sounds familiar, that's because this species is in the same genus as the supermarket button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus.
In these pictures, you can see the dark, spore-bearing gills lining the underside of a fully-opened cap. Younger stages would have lighter gills and a dome-shaped cap. The pattern of brown tissue on the surface of the cap is a product of the older surface cells darkening with age while the underlying mass of younger cells continues to expand, isolating the patches of older cells.
Posted by Eric La Fountaine at October 1, 2009 7:00 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Tammy at October 1, 2009 8:30 AM
I can attest to the yummy-ness of this fungi! I had photographed an outstanding view of 3 bundled together earlier this summer...Love that the gills start of a pink in color...then turn almost 'Coprinis-like' in the way they turn black and become goo.
Yeah for showing more of the fungi world!
Posted by: C.Wick at October 1, 2009 8:54 AM
This mushroom does indeed look delicious!
Love the top photo -- the wavy edge of the mushroom, the two dapples of light (in the foreground and background). Very nice.
Posted by: Mary Ann, in Toronto at October 1, 2009 10:44 AM
I have found these only a few times but they are a tasty treat - in fact one makes a meal in itself...as long as you get there before the maggots!
Enjoy, enjoy
Brian
Posted by: brian at October 1, 2009 11:05 AM
....to all the..'gourmands'...who venture to find these in the wild...there are many fungi with similarties....some can be lethal....there are 'tests' that can be performed to prove it is the type to be eaten...spore test(gills face down on white paper)...smell test...etc...even then...unless you know for certain...do not eat wild mushrooms...i was a victim of poisoning...and very ill for days...even though the mushrooms passed all the textbook tests...
Posted by: phillip at October 1, 2009 11:41 AM
i have been picking mushrooms since i was a small child, both in Europe and US, never got ill. i think the most important is to be able to definitively identify the deadly species and be able to exclude those...
Posted by: Anna Wald at October 1, 2009 11:45 AM
Once upon a time my sister took a class on mushroom identification.
We were camping and she found two nice little specimens. Then she did a magic trick with them. She put them on a white piece of paper overnight, and we had spoor print in the morning. I was awed. (I was 45 years old)
That night we had our dinner of sauted mushroom slices and asparagus. Dining fit for a king, or two sisters, anyway.
Thanks so much for the awesome picture, and for bringing back such a nice memory.
Posted by: Sue in Bremerton at October 1, 2009 11:57 AM
An alternative to paper, to do a spore print, I use a microscope slide. That way I can see them magnified.
Posted by: Old Ari at October 1, 2009 2:19 PM
fine photo and write up
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at October 1, 2009 4:55 PM
The squirrels love to eat these.
Posted by: Alice at October 1, 2009 5:51 PM
Found a specimen (similar species) at 6500 feet in north central Idaho this past August that had what appeared to be moose tooth markings on the cap.
You may see the sample at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29492746@N02/3850289181/in/set-72157622012765827/
Posted by: Gerry Queener at October 2, 2009 3:11 PM
yea lools good
Posted by: deja at October 5, 2009 8:18 AM
I ate one that looked like that, which I took to be a horse mushroom ( just a large variety of field mushroom. I had terrible hallucinations and night mares, and had to get up and not sleep that night in order to avoid more.
Tessa Moss
Posted by: Tessa at October 10, 2009 10:27 AM
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mmmm- looks yummy! Wish it were common around here, but alas, it's not.