When you tend culture plates over time certain characteristics stand out which help to familiarise and differentiate between species. Colour is an obvious feature to start with.
Shiitake start out white then age with brown blotches.
Lepista sordida has lilac coloured mycelium.
Aggressiveness or sluggishness of the culture. King Stropharia can be extremely slow and Morels extremely fast.
Sparseness– like Morels have notably long thin hair-like mycelium.
WA fire Morel mycelium
Aerial when the mycelium climbs up edge of container or upon itself. Oysters, Poplars, Morels.
Produces rhizomorphs such as Stropharia & Psilocybe or to the extreme in Armillaria where they look like alien entities.
Armillaria luteobubalina rhizamorphs
Produce sclerotia on agar such as Morels.
Morchella rufobrunea sclerotia
Readily produce fruit bodies on agar plate- Enoki, Poplar mushroom and Lions Mane.
Australian Flamulina velutipes- Enokitake fruit bodies on agar
Lions Mane fruit body on agar
Reishi grows like a smooth sheet of paper.
Reishi mycelium
Susceptibility to contamination, some cultures store well at room temperature whereas others are more sensitive and require storage at cooler or hotter temperatures.
So far Porcini have been found in the Adelaide Hills and Victoria. Associated with Pine plantations also Oak, Beech, Chestnut. They are common throughout the world from Cool-Temperate to Sub-Tropical regions. The recent studies of an Australian species Boletus austroedulis has shown to be the great-great-great grandparent of the porcini, originating tens of millions of years ago here in Australia.
Boletus edulis spore Adelaide
Boletus edulis spore gemination
Boletus edulis mycelium
I hope to get to Adelaide one day, until then I am working from dried Porcini that can be bought from gourmet food suppliers. Dried mushroom spores and tissue can be examined under a microscope and I have managed to culture Porcini from a spore print of the Adelaide variety. So far my experiments have been successful with transferring the mycelium to pieces of cooked hibiscus which proves that the mycelium can survive without a host tree. I am also trialling seed germination in liquid culture.
If your interested in seeing Porcini in Adelaide I believe Kate runs tours there.
Boletus austroedulis has been found near Mareeba, Townsville and the Kimberley. Associated with Corymbia intermedia, Allocasuarina torulosa, Acacia and Eucalyptus species.
For years I’ve looked for this mushroom in the wild with no luck, just didn’t cross paths, So I obtained a native culture from Selbys Mushrooms and grew it out on Small-leaf Privet.
Flammulina velutipes- Native Enoki growing on small-leaf Privet
The common name Velvet foot refers to the darkened stem base. The stem is round, some what fibrous or tough with a small hollow centre and there is no ring. The cap becomes slippery when wet and the colour is a light tan. The larger mushroom in the above pic is 4 cm in diameter. The gills are pale, close together and attach to the stem. They grow in tight clusters. Spore print white. They are a Temperate species of the world. In the wild they grow on hardwood stumps and logs often fruiting in snow. Our native Enoki are often sighted in Victoria where Johnathon made his clone. We were all excited to see it fruit in Brisbane during Summer and to have fruited on small-leaf Privet substrate.
Flammulina velutipes- Native Enoki fruiting on Agar plate
Fruit bodies often form on the Agar plates. The substrate I used was freshly cut small-leaf Privet, Chopped roughly into 1 inch pieces with Loppers. Pressure cooked at 15psi for 1.5hrs, then inoculated with wheat grain spawn. Pinning began at 1 month in late October. This particular strain fruited at room temperature around 30 deg C.
Spring 2020 I have them Pinning at 25 days- Temperature 10 deg nights 15 deg days. Making it a fast fruiter and potential to grow all year round.
Native Enoki pinning at 25 days small-leaf Privet
We are running a 1 day workshop early October 2020 and will be Inoculating Privet logs.
Fruiting blocks raised above water provide good moisture levels preventing pins from dehydrating.
Occurring in Australia and New Zealand where the Māori call this species is pekepekekiore. Also found in America. Growing on hardwood. They are found in the Rain-forest. Distributed from Tasmania and Victoria concentrated along the East Coast to Brisbane and also records in Cairns. H. erinaceus is grown in Australia by mushroom cultivators. There are many species of Hericium found in North America, Europe and Asia all considered edible.
This is one mushroom that has eluded me in the wild, but I’ve managed to get a clone to grow and have found they grow amazingly well on small-leaf Privet. It’s also one of the fungi that fruits readily on agar plates. I’m looking forward to eating some in the near future.
The King tuber mushroom is a member of the Pleurotus group but the mushroom grows from a tuber. There is a long cultural history of use for food and medicine in Nigeria. Dr. Omon Isikhuemhen has worked on bringing these mushrooms to light, documenting cultural use and carrying out Phylogenetic studies.
King tubers are found in Africa, Asia and Australasian-Pacific region. Not all strains of P. tuber-regium produce sclerotia (tubers) as found with some strains from Northern Australia and Indonesia. Mating of strains from different regions were compatible. (see the below paper on Phylogenetic studies).
Pleurotus tuber-regium Australia
P. tuber-regium can be found on the Sunshine Coast in Hoop pine forest. The mushrooms are harvested before the cap has developed. The mushrooms in the above picture are too late for eating they will be tough. This is a warmer temperature species requiring 30 degrees Celsius for the mycelium to grow. Having a tuber makes the cultivation easier. I’m unaware of anyone in Australia growing these mushrooms apart from the State Forest inadvertently. Collecting spore prints would be valuable for future studies. It is a great example of Agroforestry, two commercial crops Hoop pine- Araucaria cunninghamii for timber and Pleurotus tuber-regium for food. They are not mycorrhizal though they appear be in the video footage of the Hoop pine forest. Hoop pines drop alot of branches and provide a deep layer of mulch. Interestingly the mycelium consumes nematodes.
Pleurotu tuber-regium
The stem is velvety or minutely hairy.
Pleurotus tuber-regium
The cap margin is in-rolled. The gills run partly down the stem. the gills are shallow close together and cream coloured.
Pleurotus tuber-regium
In 2014 I tried one of the tubers in a soup it reminded me of Breadfruit. Since then I have found some traditional recipes and would like to try again as the tuber is meant to be soaked 12-24 hrs before milling into a paste. The recipe is in the below link.
Blushing Morels are found in Perth frequently growing from pine bark mulch in garden beds throughout the city. They seem to like urban environments. Originally recorded from America they have moved to Australia, Israel and Cyprus. Morrie from Tall Trees and Mushrooms was the first to have these Documented by a Morel expert in France, they have been DNA sequenced. Morrie introduced me to Morels in the field & getting the culture up & running. With this invaluable experience I felt confident that the fruits would be seen with some persistence.
They have a conical nature and the Blushing occurs with maturity along the ridges making them quite distinct from other Morels. Rufo also refers to this reddish blushing. Considered a choice edible and one of the most promising for cultivation. Spores can be collected by wrapping a mature specimen in baking paper and leaving for a few days or until the creamy-yellowish spore is visible. These were found at the start of Winter.
Morchella rufobrunnea has also been recorded in Brisbane CBD.
Cultivation experiments
I have a spore print from 5 years ago that I still use to make culture plates. The spores germinate quickly and the mycelium is a fine brownish fuzz. No problem transferring to wheat grain, cardboard or Eucalyptus sawdust. Sclerotia usually start forming on agar. From this point it is not an exact science. We need more people to experiment and develop the procedure. This is only achievable by preserving the spore prints and making the culture available for further studies. This species of Morel does not need a host tree as it is a saprophyte growing in mulch. The mycelium can be transferred to Hibiscus dowels.
The link below is a paper about corn inoculated with yellow morels to reduce the need for nitrogen and retain moisture. I will try this with M.rufobrunea. Using longer lived grasses like Vetiver, Lemon grass, Lomandra and lawn varieties are worth trialling too.
Morchella rufobrunnea- Cultivated in Australia Nov 2021 fruiting
What a surprise to walk along the driveway and be greeted with smiling Morels. A few years must of past from the initial inoculation. Recently I had disturbed the pot removing a Mimosa tree to plant Lavender, thinking back to how I originally put the pot together it would of had some broken fig branches in the bottom covered in burnt soil which is really interesting. This is the first successful fruiting of cultivated Morels in Australia which opens the door to lot’s of possibilities. Much gratitude to those who have supported, encouraged, inspired me over the years.
Morchella rufobrunnea13th June fruiting 2022- growing with Lomandra multiflora
Previously I had 1 large clay pot where morels fruited in the front yard, now a handful of small pots in the back yard have Morels.
Morchella rufobrunnea pin (young stage) 13th June 2022Morchella rufobrunnea- Pin 3 weeks later 6th July 2022
At this stage baking paper can be wrapped around the morel to collect a fresh spore print.
Tipping out a large pot of burnt soil that became water logged I noticed a pea sized tuber with mycelium, the night before I was looking at the Pics of fire Morel sclerotium from Stamets book, I had forgotten about this part of the Morel life cycle. These sclerotia are food reserves for producing the mushroom.
I grew a crop of red maize and was surprised to see this delicacy from Mexico, known as cuitlacoche.They appeared on my corn in two separate locations. The corn was fruiting in Autumn in the Subtropics. A year later I’m farming river flats at another location. I planted Blue Maize and Anasazi (Sweet corn) in Summer which produced rainbow cobs. The seed saved was then planted at the beginning of Autumn and the cuitlacoche has returned.
Ustilago maydis
In isolated areas of high humidity surrounding Mexico there is a Poisonous look-alike Claviceps gigantea or commonly called Corn ergot which is related to Rye ergot Claviceps purpurea. Corn ergot is a slerotia which produces tiny mushrooms visible to the eye, where as Ustilago maydis produce spores inside (the same as a Puffball).
The Gem-studded Puffball is found and eaten in many countries. In Australia they are found in Pine forest and Rain-forest of Temperate regions and the Sub-tropics. Autumn is the season. They can be differentiated from other puffballs by the scars left from the spines falling away. These scars look like little craters. They are stalked and at least the height of a large Bic lighter. As they mature the central vent opens waiting for rain drops to propel the spores into air currents.
Gem-studded puffballs can be eaten while the interior is firm and white before the spores develop. They can be found alone or in troops, sometimes clustered.
The below picture shows white interior but larvae have entered.
In the below picture you can see the central vent with surrounding scars present. The broken piece on the right shows spore colour of mature specimen.
Eventually all that”s left is the papery capsule which you can identify from the scars around the vent.
There are Poisonous Scleroderma species occurring in similar habitats.
Some Poisonous Amanita species look like white balls when young. When cut through the center the encased mushroom shape can be seen.
Another common puffball of sub-tropical Rain-forest is Morganella pupurascens which is found growing on logs and is the size of a marble.
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