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I found these growing under some dead ferns on the edge of woodland. They have bendy stalks and a hay-like smell and were growing in a small ring. One on the left had some white stuff on the underside as you can - is that mould given the conditions I found them in? I have an idea of what they are but would like to see if you come up with the same. Thanks

I would treat them with extreme caution for the moment. They do look superficially a little like Fairy ring champignon (marasmius oreades) but these can easily be confused with some serious nasties (Clitocybe dealbata and Clitocybe rivulosa for example) and looking at your photographs I have reservations about the gills for one thing. Try carefully dissecting one across the cap and down the stalk so that you can see the structure etc. clearly, and make a spore print. Doing these things can help put you on the trail of identifying what you have.

Marasmius oreades: http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/ ... result.asp

Clitocybe dealbata:
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/ ... result.asp

Clitocybe rivulosa:
http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/ ... result.asp

Please, don't under any circumstances feel tempted to try them until you are 100% confident that what you have is edible and if any specimen you have collected has mould on it - irrespective of whether it's supposed to be edible or not - discard it.

Thanks for the advice. I have also grown concerned because according to this site http://www.wildmushroomsonline.co.uk/Ar ... mushrooms/ a way of distinguishing between the poisonous and fairy ring champignon mushroom is that the gills of the latter do not touch the stem but the gills of the former do, and on my specimens the gills touch the stem. It's a shame as there's quite a lot of things which point to these being FRC but I can't be certain so I think I'll leave these. Thanks again for the advice

These definately do not look like FRC to me. FRC have wider spaced gills, longer thinner stems. The location is also wrong. They also don't look like the clitocybes mentioned either. However, I can't positively identify without further checking.

Regarding the stems of FRC being longer this is my fault because I cut them off quite short leaving much of the stalk behind. I know this breaks the rules of mushroom ID and won't be doing it in future!

Never mind, it's a lesson learned. I must admit to avoiding FRC's because in spite of having a friend who swore they could identify with certainty and had eaten them regularly the dried ones I was given caused a severe bout of vomiting. Fortunately there appears to be no lasting damage - other than an ingrained suspicion of them on my part.

I think there are lots of far easier fungi to dabble with, but of course that's a personal opinion.

Not sure what these are but they are definately NOT Marasmius oreades (Fairy Ring Champignon) and they aren't Clitocybe dealbata/rivulosa either. One of the most common ways that foraging-newbies get poisoned is because they think that if they find mushrooms growing in a ring, they are likely to be Fairy Ring Champignons. Hundreds of species of mushrooms grow in rings.

They might be Clitocybe gibba. Hard to tell without a section photo.

FRCs have a bump in the middle of the cap. These have a depression.