Identification: Are these field mushrooms, and can I eat them?

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by allennef, Aug 27, 2008.

  1. allennef

    allennef Member

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    Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
    My compost bay in my back yard was absolutely full of these mushrooms this spring. I live in Southern Ontario, Canada. Most leafy garden waste and all kitchen veg waste gets recycled into this compost. I dug most of the mushrooms back into the compost and found that there was a lot of white root network in the soil. I did a spore print, and it was dark brown. I didn't eat amy of these mushrooms as I didn't know what they were. Could I have eaten them and survived? And can I expect more next spring?
     

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  2. Frog

    Frog Generous Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Location:
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    They look like Agaricus species.
    I don't think any Agaricus kill, but some lead to regurgitation.
    My limited experience with ID'ing Agaricuses (Agaricii?) so far starts with whether they smell of mushrooms, almonds or bandaids. The latter are not edible, some of the former two are. Whether they stain when bruised can be an important character as well.
    I've ID'd and eaten The Prince and (with less confidence) the Horse so far, but have not trusted my other Agaricus identifications enough to take a bite.
    A good field guide could take you through the Agaricus characteristics to figure out if this is edible.
     

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