# Our orchard has cone mushrooms! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 29, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227 "2012-09-29T13:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/1 "2012-09-29T13:09:29Z")
I’ve mentioned my wife’s garden and orchard before – about the gac leaves I have for breakfast, and the time she almost burned down our neighbor’s trees. Living next to these flora and fauna is quite a change for a city boy like me! There are five species of lizard we see regularly, many different kinds of bird (including herons, crows, owls, hummingbirds, doves, and various songbirds), many kinds of fruits and flowers, etc. But we also have termite mushrooms! I posted about these in another thread: > [@What meals represent stereotypical indulgence/luxury at higher incomes or in non-US nations](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-meals-represent-stereotypical-indulgence-luxury-at-higher-incomes-or-in-non-us-nations/635643/49): > > _Het khon_ (เห็ดโคน), _Termitomyces fuliginosus_, a cone-shaped termite mushroom, is the most coveted food in our region of rural Central Thailand… > > The mushroom sprouts only on a few days per year, however, and must be picked within a day or two. Villagers watch the weather carefully, and know from experience when the mushroom can be found. > > … it is cultivated by termites. The mushroom is mostly found in hills “owned by the King.” Gathering food from government land is prohibited, but police look the other way when locals ascend the hills for mushrooms – they’d quickly spoil if uncollected. But my wife can get the mushrooms in her own orchard. We had a heat spell last week; unfortunately my wife is so distracted by the needs of me and children, she forgot that that was the tell-tale sign. But she went into the orchard to gather bamboo sprouts and came back screaming! I could tell from her voice that they were screams of delight, rather than fear or horror. Cone mushrooms had sprouted! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/2 "2012-09-29T15:52:12Z")
Congrats!! We have an area on our property where most years [Amanita](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria) mushrooms come up. They are beautiful to look at, but too dangerous (for me) to consider trying. I like Psilocybins just fine, but would never eat an Amanita. This year I picked some Amanitas and brought them to our local Mushroom Club meeting. Most everyone was thrilled to see a fairly rare (for our area) species, but one guy left in a huff, since technically possession is a crime. As we were leaving, a guy approached me (a senior member who is a “trusted identifier”\*) and asked if he could have them. I gave them to him with the understanding they were for his academic interest. \*In our club (and others) a trusted identifier is a mycologist who can look at a mushroom, tell you it is safe to consume/not safe to consume/indeterminate. ---
**Author:** ![getitrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@getitrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getitrite)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/3 "2012-09-29T17:07:07Z")
It’s been really hot here in Texas, now its turned rainy, do we have a chance of mushrooms too. And do you know what the white ones are? etable or not? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/4 "2012-09-29T17:45:53Z")
> [@getitrite](#): > > And do you know what the white ones are? etable or not? I believe the rule is that unless you can _positively identify_ a mushroom it’s inedible. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/5 "2012-09-29T17:46:37Z")
> [@getitrite](#): > > It’s been really hot here in Texas, now its turned rainy, do we have a chance of mushrooms too. And do you know what the white ones are? etable or not? 😃 if you are not 100% certain of a mushrooms identification, DO NOT EAT IT. Identification involves doing a spore print, noting all the specifics of various structures, noting where it grew, and knowing whether there or not any possible toxic look-a-likes exist. After doing all that, getting a second opinion is ideal. If you ever _do_ eat a shroom you are not sure of, leave a small piece in a bag to help doctors identify why you are sick/dying. I’ve harvested and eaten six or so different species from the wild this year (NO morels, dammit) but I was absolutely sure of the ID in each case. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/6 "2012-09-29T18:14:51Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > There are five species of lizard we see regularly, many different kinds of bird (including herons, crows, owls, hummingbirds, doves, and various songbirds), many kinds of fruits and flowers, etc. Actually, hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas. You probably have [sunbirds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbird). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/7 "2012-10-01T06:38:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > 😃 if you are not 100% certain of a mushrooms identification, DO NOT EAT IT. Identification involves doing a spore print, noting all the specifics of various structures, noting where it grew, and knowing whether there or not any possible toxic look-a-likes exist. After doing all that, getting a second opinion is ideal. Concur - I’ve argued this in the past - there seems to be a common misconception that 100% certainty is somehow unattainable for fungi - but of course it is. > [@](#): > > If you ever _do_ eat a shroom you are not sure of, leave a small piece in a bag to help doctors identify why you are sick/dying. Yes, in the sense that this will give them a useful fact to write on the death certificate. As far as I understand it, treatment for serious fungi poisoning basically consists of “Keep the patient hydrated, then wait and see if they survive” - there are not many actual treatments or remedies. Better just to say _don’t eat it unless you are 100% certain_. > [@](#): > > I’ve harvested and eaten six or so different species from the wild this year (NO morels, dammit) but I was absolutely sure of the ID in each case. I’ve done poorly this year - we had a really wet spring and summer, and autumn has gone suddenly cold - I’ve hardly found anything worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-orchard-has-cone-mushrooms/636227/8 "2012-10-22T12:10:26Z")
I should have titled this thread “ **Ask the techno-nerd from the city who ended up in rural Thailand, 70 miles from Nowhere City.** ” Although late October, we still get some hot days, and the cone mushrooms are still sprouting on our land. This restricts my wife’s movements, as they must be cleaned within a day of picking or their taste suffers. > [@araminty](#): > > Actually, hummingbirds are restricted to the Americas. You probably have [sunbirds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbird). Sorry for the misidentification. I’m usually careful, typing in the Thai name my wife tells me, Googling to find Latin name, etc. In the case of that bird, I think my wife herself just called it “hummingbird” in English. Other fauna on our small plot of land include squirrels, mongooses (mongeese?), etc. We have fish in our swimming holes – we don’t stock them but they arrive in flooding season. We have several Red-whiskered Bulbuls who have taken up residence recently; this excites my wife though Wikipedia suggests the bird is quite common. We have too many varieties of invertebrate to mention. And flora. We have far too many fruit to eat ourselves, and my wife insists they can’t even be given away – everyone is faced with the same glut. My wife’s garden includes innumerable different herbs. Today our dinner was prepared with tasty [wild betel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_sarmentosum). It’s in the pepper genus but not spicy hot like yesterday’s herb, [clove basil.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocimum_gratissimum) We also grow rice so would be almost self-sufficient for food, except I insist on eating meat, milk and chocolate. Our dogs try to contribute now-and-then by stealing chickens from the neighbors. (One neighbor has lost at least one expensive fighting cock to our dogs; the fact I once rushed his wife to emergency room may be the _quid pro quo_keeping that from becoming a police matter.)