Special Issue, September 11, 2002
Marasmius oreades Galore
By Herman Brown, Greenville, CA
herman@fungi-zette.com

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On Tuesday, September 10th, I went to check out a report of a large white mushroom growing in a friend's yard.  I looked around for it but couldn't find it, but while searching around the rest of the property, I came across the largest bunch of mushrooms I have ever seen.  They looked like the Fairy Ring Mushrooms in many large rings, but they were also grouped in pretty tight clumps.  I had never seen this before, so I took a picture on a few and sent the pictures to Fred Stevens and Mike Wood, to get their opinions.

With the help of my microscope and some ID tips from Fred, I was able to identify them (and feel comfortable with the identification) as the Marasmius oreades, also called the  Fairy Ring Mushroom.  The next day I took more pictures.  Blow are most of them. 

Click on any picture to see a larger image
Close-up
ID Photo # 1		 A section
ID Photo #2. A microscopic picture of a longitudinal  section of the cap, showing the cuticle cells, about 150X
Large ring 1
Large rings		 larhe ring 2
Part of another large ring
Another large ring
Part of another large ring		 Close-up of a clump
Close-up of a clump
A group of clumps
A group of Clumps		 Medium sized ones
Some were decent-sized
Some larger ones
Some were pretty large		 A puffballA A puffball was found also
A basketful
The collection basket		 A table's worth
The collection.
Were we greedy? YEAH!
In the pan
We few cooked up a few with a little salt, butter, and olive oil (Yum!)

While we were still at the friend's house, I cooked up some for her to try.  She agreed that they were very tasty.

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