More confusing fungi!

We have scored a fair amount of rain in the last 2 months.  It now appears that we are likely to have got more rain this year than the average for the previous 4 years.  (I am reminded of the school in Lake Woebegon, Minnesota where all the children are above average.)  As a result everything is growing strongly.  As well as serrated tussock, St Johns Wort, sweet briars and brambles, covered elsewhere, the fungi are beginning to pop up.

All are welcome.  Some even get invited to dinner!  This morning we found a very good crop of fruiting bodies on our morning walk.  The first two species shown below were intriguing because both looked pretty distinctive but I could identify neither with certainty!  The third species found on Boxing Day was even more perplaxing!

Suggestions welcome.

Species 1.
 Note this image includes the direct image plus a reflection in an old truck mirror.

  • From the white gills I thought this to be an Amanite.  However I can find no references to any member of the genus Amanita with a pink stem!  
  • With pink involved my next port of call is the genus Russula.  I wonder about Russula rosea but it (according to Fuhrer) "Occurs in tall eucalypt forest" not the grazing land with grassy box attributes!   
  • Perhaps it's purple rather than pink?  That makes Rusulla purpureoflava the go: its habitat is described as  "Common in Eucalypt forest and heathland".  
That (R purpureoflava) is where I end up on this one.  Comments from Dr Tom May at Fungimap agree with the genus Russula but not R purpureoflava which always has some yellow.


Species 2.
 This is clearly a bolete of some form. The deep dpression around the stem, and the red flush to the stem suggest Boletus barragensis.  However Fuhrer describes the "Pore surface dark reddish brown..." which doesn't really match my example but mine isn't too far off this image from Morwell NP. 

Looking at the top surface of the cap - visible in this - seems to match the image in Fuhrer.
He also comments "the pore tissue bruising bluish green", which matches what happened when I bruised that fungus.  I am not sure how the colour of the bruising will come across in this image (I don't want to interfere with it by digital enhancement).  The area concerned appears basically white but tinged greenish.
The habitat is described as "Solitary to gregarious in Eucalyptus /Leptospermum forest" and the word 'forest' causes me some issues as a description of a cow paddock reverting to Box woodland.

On balance I think Boletus barragensis is as close as I can get.  Other suggestions welcome (the information and images supplied did not permit Fungimap to offer an ID).
 
Species 3
When I first saw this the white shape looked like a puffball, but on getting closer and having a look inside it had white gills.  There were several fruiting bodies so one was taken home for a photograph!

The whiteness of the gills made me consider the genus Amanita as a starting point. However none of the species listed in Fuhrer seemed to be hemispherical - convex was the closest on offer.  Also the fungus seemed to have an umbo
and ratio of cap width to stem height seemed a little extreme for an Amanite.   Possibly the shape of the bodies at first sighting was misleading, since in three days time they had flattened out almost completely (although an umbo was still discernible).

The spore print is white , but that doesn't rule out Amanita, nor a bunch of others.
In summary, Help!!!

Help has been received for the third species at least.  See Denis' comment below and the link to the SFSG image.   Between that and Fuhrer's image I think they support the ID of Macrolepiota dolichaula.  That is particularly so as the caps have flattened out as they have aged.   Fungimap have joined the consensus on Macrolepiota dolichaula.

Comments

Denis Wilson said…
Hi Martin
I meant to mention a while back that your white fungus with the tall stem might be Macrolepiota dolichaula.
Fuhrer's image makes it look brownish underneath, but ones I have seen have pure white gills.
Also, they can become like dinner plates on sticks (after good rain).
http://www.sydneyfungalstudies.org.au/images/commonFungi/macrolepiotadolichaula.jpg
Hope that helps.
Denis
1 January 2012 at 22:55:00 GMT+11
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