100 Species #93: Abortive Entoloma

[urbpan]

Comments

[klingonlandlady]

I've been finding these in the woods near my house for a couple of years- very plentiful! The interesting thing is, they seem to be shaking off their parasitism, and this year are appearing in various states of partial cauliflower-ness alongside some normal-looking small greyish capped mushrooms. The less-affected ones seem smaller and greyer than honey mushrooms, could they be Entolomas? We've been eating the Aborted (cauliflowered) versions for a couple of years and they're fine, but a bit small and soft when you fry them.

[urbpan]

I've definitely found normal entolomas near them--they are smaller than honey mushrooms, grow singly rather than from clusters, and are gray capped. The spore print is supposedly pinkish. Even though the species that is involved is edible, most sources say to avoid them, since they are so easily confused with poisonous species, which may also grow nearby.

[klingonlandlady]

I can understand that, the entolomas are pretty nondescript. But as I've got them growing in semi-clusters in various states of parasitism, it seems like we can tell what they are (keying out with spore prints every time, of course).

[ndozo]

Those would look awesome if you were wearing those snappy blue gloves...