winter mushrooms

It was located pretty high on the trunk, wasnt easy to make a good detailed close-up shot.

Luckily, we discovered a lot of smaller fungi babies on the other side of the trunk, which were more accessible.

...which I certainly took advantage of right away. You know, I love mushrooms. And these are eco-friendly: we found this tree outside of the city.

But is it edible or not? I have to decide if it is Flammulina velutipes aka Velvet Shank aka Velvet foot (an edible mushroom used to grow in winter time) or Galerina Marginata (which is highly toxic... and it also grow in wintertime).

Galerina vs Flamulina

Galerine Marginata is a deadly poisonous toadstool, and it’s very dangerous!

Galerina marginata (source: wikipedia)

1. This mushroom is very similar to an edible summer honey shrooms (especially in its adulthood).
2. Other species of Gallerina are easier to distinguish from edible species of honey mushrooms, so subjectively they pose a lesser threat.
3. Galerina marginata's poison as strong as pale toadstool' poison. It is more insidious, as it acts with a certain slowdown in time.
4. There is not much information about this poisonous mushroom in the guides. Even experienced mushroom hunters are not always in the know about him. It is believed that in the past these mushrooms grew farther to the south, and only due to the climate warming, began to spread in central Russia.
5. Galerina prefers to grow on coniferous wood (one of the solutions is simply not to harvest again on coniferous wood...)
6. When the mushrooms already suffered from the frost (like on my pics), their caps have changed the color (they became darker). The mushroom leg is a more characteristic feature; Flammulina has a velvet leg (which provided it one of the names). Galerina has a noticeable white coating on its legs.
7. During the thaw after frosts, Galerina will no longer grow, and the fresh Flammulina will continue to appear - accordingly, young mushrooms are guaranteed to be winter honey mushrooms, but adult specimens that survive the freeze still can be Galerina.

I also would like to mention that it is not the only winter mushroom that you can find in the forest the during the thaw, when the forest is full of moisture and resilient mushrooms want to continue their growth. I just do not have my own photos for a substantive presentation. When I am lucky enough to find these mushrooms and take the proper photos, I will definitely introduce you to Auricularia auricula-judae (aka a dog’s ears, a devil’s ear, Judas’s ear; in China it is also called “hei muer”, which can be translated as “black tree ear”) and an Oyster mushroom, which is probably well-known to all of us.

this was my little post for #mushroommonday challenge by @balticbadger. thanks for stopping by! and join the fungi lovers community.