Magic mushrooms!

[PerthAlly]

One for the botanists out there.

Spotted these beauties near the summit of Beinn Udlamain ( Drumochter Hills ) on Saturday

They're delicate pink things and hope my iPhone snap does them justice.

Any wise sage know what they are?

[CharlesT]

They look like a variety of Russula, possibly Russula maierei or R. emetica f. sylvestris, which occurs mainly in coniferous forests so could have migrated to the hilltop. Possibly R. cavipes also. Do you have a shot which shows the stems and gills? Unusual location for a Russula though, usually in woodland. Enter the experts, please.

[PerthAlly]

Charles

What a stunning answer!

With the benefit of google images they certainly look like Russula maierai. Not emetic spp. Looks way too red.

Unfortunatley I didn't get a close up of gills or stalks as weather was freezing and wet.

Only hitch is the lack of trees. Checked your bio and you've not tackled the Drumochter hills. There are no trees. None for miles....

Thanks for the reply

[prog99]

The other name for Russia maierai is the Beechwood sickener so I think we can discount that at drumochter.
Think I recognize them but don't know the name.I'll consult my guidebooks.
Good year for choice edibles though, massive porcini to supplement dinner on Saturday.

[PerthAlly]

Prog99

I'd be interested to hear what your books say.

Didn't eat them as I had a ham and tomato sandwich in my rucksack. And figs for some reason. Don't even like them!

[CharlesT]

I've had a look at the fungus species records for the Drumochter hills and R. emetica is listed but R. maieri isn't. So at present I'd plump for emetica, which is the true "sickener" and can occur in coniferous areas. Not wholly unususl for some spores to germinate away from their home territory. Whatever you do don't attempt to eat it, you'd be fairly ill afterwards.

I await prog99's response.

[prog99]

Not sure, look too fragile and not red enough.

No photos of the stems and gills? How wide was the cap and what shape was it?

And just to re-iterate , don't eat or handle anything you aren't 200% certain of.

[CharlesT]

Not sure, look too fragile and not red enough.

Agreed, but they look quite old and could have bleached out and started to disintegrate which would make them appear fragile. There is one smaller one in the shot which looks red enough and has the funnel shaped cap of emetica. I've looked again through my source and can't find anything else that fits, so I'm going with R. emetica for now.

[PerthAlly]

Lordy!

I might go back up and investigate further....

Certainly their colour was pastel and not solid. Biggest one would have a 2" cap. Small cluster, don't know why I even noticed them.

As I said, weather was shocking so I pulled my jacket collar up and battled on.

The patch was just north of the Beinn Udlamain summit ie still at 900m probably

[CharlesT]

This is going to get even more nerdy. Further research leads to their being possibly Russula nana which used to be thought a sub-species of R emetica but was given separate species status in 1936. R nana is a sub-arctic species of moors and high ground so that fits the bill of the 900m altitude where you found them. However, R nana does not appear in the species record for the Drumochter hills, but that doesn't mean they are not there, just not in the record. R nana as the name implies are smaller. Attach a photo for your consideration.

Your specimens look to be going over (ageing) so would have bleached and started to fall apart.

Hope this helps and is at least mildly interesting.

PS - The Russians used to eat the bloody things (R emetica that is), not raw though.

[prog99]

Interesting and just shows what a minefield it is identifying species. My european fungi guide doesn't even have that in it!