Lamella
A bench console for identifying fungi by their microscopic characters and grading what their chemistry does. Every record is measured, not copied.
21 records published · of 26 scheduled
Identification tree
Five binary splits. Each answer is a page — the whole key works with JavaScript switched off.
Is the fertile surface a set of blades?
Fertile surface
High-risk confusion pairs
Only pairs where both members are documented from the same habitat in the same season are listed. Rows whose counterpart record has not come due yet are withheld.
| Ranked by | Shared characters | Telling character | Risk gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amanita phalloidesAmanita vaginata+3 | — | No ring at any stage, deeply striate cap margin over a third of the radius, and a volva that remains a loosely fitting white sheath rather than a torn collar. | 3 |
| Clitocybe dealbataMarasmius oreades+3 | Small pale agaric in grazed turf, white spore print, cap one to four centimetres. | Marasmius oreades has thick, widely spaced, waxy-looking gills with clearly visible gaps between them, and a tough stem that can be twirled around a finger and springs back. Clitocybe dealbata has crowded thin gills that touch each other and a brittle stem that snaps cleanly.Twirl the stem and count the gill gaps at the cap margin on ten specimens. | 3 |
| Cortinarius orellanusCantharellus cibarius+3 | — | Blunt forked folds rather than true gills, apricot-yellow colour throughout, apricot odour, and a spore print that is cream rather than rusty brown. | 3 |
| Galerina marginataKuehneromyces mutabilis+3 | Small brown-spored agaric, clustered on dead wood, membranous ring on the upper stem. | Galerina marginata carries a thin ring that is usually torn away by the time the cap is fully open, and its stem base is coated in white mycelial felt. K. mutabilis keeps a firm, persistent ring and grows in dense caespitose tufts on hardwood stumps, with a two-toned cap that is hygrophanous and slick when wet.Spore print colour and the presence of a persistent ring on three separate specimens. | 3 |
| Galerina marginataCoprinus comatus+3 | — | Grows on soil, not on wood; a white shaggy cylindrical cap; gills that deliquesce to black ink within hours rather than a rusty spore deposit. | 3 |
| Lepiota brunneoincarnataMacrolepiota procera+3 | — | At 100-250 mm across, the parasol is five to ten times the linear size; it also has a snakeskin stem and a sliding ring. Size alone separates them, but only if the collector notices that the small fruit bodies are a separate species rather than young parasols. | 3 |
Reagent bench
| Reagent | Reacts with | Vocabulary | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| MELZMelzer's reagent | Spore wall and spore ornamentation, examined at 1000x in a water mount | dextrinoid · inamyloid | 3.00 |
| KOH5Potassium hydroxide 5% | Cap cuticle, flesh in the cap centre, and the stem base | negative · positive · variable | 2.00 |
| FESO4Iron(II) sulfate 10% | Cap flesh, and the surface of the stem in the upper third | negative · positive · slow-positive | 3.00 |
| ANISAnisaldehyde (with sulfuric acid) | Cap cuticle and cap flesh, on a fresh or a well-dried specimen | negative · positive | 2.00 |
| NH4OHAmmonium hydroxide 10% | Cap cuticle; also useful on the ring surface of Amanita | negative · positive | 2.00 |
| COTTONCotton blue in lactophenol | Spore ornamentation, cystidia walls, and clamped septa | acyanophilic · cyanophilic | 2.00 |
| SULFOVANSulfovanillin (SV) | Cystidia contents in the gill trama and on the gill edge | — | 1.00 |
| GUAIACGuaiac tincture | Fresh context tissue and the cut surface of the stem | positive | 1.00 |
Lamella · honeydew.top · [email protected] · https://honeydew.top