All About the Gills on #mushroommonday

Here are a few samplings of different mushroom gills for #mushroommonday

These are the gills of a red waxycap. They look like many mushroom gills look with symmetry and gills that don't attack to the stem.

Here are some pholiota mushrooms with really symmetrical gills. Quite a few mushrooms can be identified by their gills when they resemble other similar mushrooms.

Here is another mushroom with really unique gills that are good for beginners to start foraging with.

These veiny gills belong to the summer chanterelle. Take note how the gills branch out into veiny patterns at the outer edge of the cap. Also note how the gills actually run down the stem a bit.

Another good beginner mushroom to forage are summer oysters and oyster mushrooms in general. They have thick gills that run down the stem, also these grow exclusively out of wood.

Some mushrooms only have pores. These are called polypores. This bright orange one is a cinnabar polypore, as far as I know they can only be used as an orange dye for wool.

Here is a hexagonal polypore, no gills but pores arranged in hexagon shapes.

Tyis one is pored but it is not a polypore. This is a bolete. Boletes differ from polypores as they have stems and grow out of soil compared to polypores that grow out of dead wood. Identification of boletes can be tricky as there are many bitter or slightly toxic species out there. If the pores don't bruise blue then you're in edible territory unless it tastes really bitter lol.

Here is an unmistakable beginner forager mushroom that can be identified by its spiky gills. These are hedgehog mushrooms, they can be found under hardwood trees growing in soil during the fall. Their spiky gill feature makes them easy to ID because there are no deadly lookalikes.

One of the most sought after mushrooms has no gills at all, just a brain like pattern. They are easy to ID but there are some poisonous lookalikes that have the brain cap not attaching to the stem.

That's all for now, keep an eye on all the various gill types while foraging. Happy #mushroommonday and thanks for looking.