Talk:Auriscalpium vulgare/GA1

Latest comment: 13 years ago by J Milburn in topic GA Review

GA Review

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Reviewer: J Milburn (talk) 23:24, 17 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

I'd love to find one of these, but no luck yet...

  • Good luck! This seems like one you'd have to be crawling on your hands and knees to find (although that's a common posture for real mushroom hunters). I have a Scots pine in my front yard, so this coming year I plan to collect the cones and bury them, see what happens .... Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • "has a dark brown, cap covered" Lose the comma?
  • In the prose, you imply that the Duchess's collection was the first ever, as opposed to the first in Britain.
  • "by the English botanist, Reverend John Lightfoot" if retaining "the", remove the comma, if retaining the comma, change "the" to "a"?
  • "The species was transferred to its current genus in 1821 by Samuel Frederick Gray, who made it the type species of the genus Auriscalpium." Odd way of saying that, rephrase? Perhaps also specify that he called it vulgare?
  • Perhaps experiment with moving the mycomorphbox to the description section? It seems a little odd that it is in the taxonomy section, while the cladogram is alongside the description.
  • I moved the cladogram to the left side, is that better? I suppose if necessary I could dump the pic of Maggie Bentinck to make more room in that section (although I'd rather not... it's not too often I can add "human interest" in a mushroom article!) Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • "it has also been referred to as the "fir-cone Hydnum", when it was still a member of that genus" You swap tense
  • "several fruit bodies arise from a common base" Does "fruit body" not refer to the whole mushroom? If so, that'd be like saying "several trees from the same trunk"?
  • "and reaches diameters of 0.5–2 cm (0.2–0.8 in)" "reaches" implies that you are going to give the upper limit
  • "ashen" is a lovely word which you could use instead of "ashey"- ashey's probably better, but I like the way "ashen" sounds :)
  • "The surface is covered with hairy fibers (especially near the base), and a dark chestnut-brown color" Missing a word or two?
    "is". Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • cortical, fibrillose, laterally- a little technical. I don't mind them, others might- I'd avoid them, personally
  • "A drop of potassium hydroxide applied to the surface of the mushroom will instantly stain black" Picky, but would it not be the mushroom staining, rather than the KOH?
  • "The mushroom is generally considered inedible because of its toughness and small size.[22] However, an 1887 textbook noted that it was "commonly eaten in France and Italy".[23]" Perhaps merge the sentences?
  • "slender extensions that attach the spore to the basidium" spores to the basidia? You refer to sterigmata as opposed to a sterigmatum.
  • "agglutinated"?
  • "gloeocystidia"?
  • (Just as an aside, I feel a long way from qualified to comment on the details about the hyphae- it reads well, but I'm just gonna have to accept on good faith that it makes sense. I don't think this is a criticism; you're talking about something complex and advanced, you aren't going to be able to dumb it down far enough for everyone to understand it, but for it to still be concise and useful.)
  • Yeah, I know. Per my usual strategy, I'm hoping some time away from the article will help me achieve "Strategic distance" so that I may rework the prose to achieve a better balance between scientific accuracy and layman-readability. Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • "inoculum block"?
  • "mycelium" Link? Do you mean for this to be singular?
  • I see you define gloeocystidia here, but didn't earlier.
  • What's the point of growing them in culture? Does it serve any real purpose?
  • At the time, it was useful for researchers to be able to grow this and other related fungi in pure culture to compare microscopic characteristics and make inferences about phylogenetic relationships. It was (and still is) novel that they were able to make it form fruit bodies as well. Today, the necessity of this technique for phylogenetics has been much reduced by the prevalence of DNA analysis, so I'm probably gonna chop this section down to a single paragraph before FAC. Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • If it's helpful, Sterry notes that it grows on buried/partially buried pine cones, while Phillips notes "buried decaying" pine cones, and adds that it can be found all year, and Kibby says it is found in autumn. (I updated the page numbers, didn't update the style.)
    • Sterry, Paul; Hughes, Barry (2009). Complete Guide to British Mushrooms & Toadstools. HarperCollins. p. 280. ISBN 9780007232246.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    • Phillips, Roger (1981). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe. London: Pan Books. p. 242. ISBN 0330264419.
    • Kibby, Geoffrey (2003). Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Northern Europe. Hamlyn. p. 208. ISBN 9780753718650.

Great article, cool mushroom. I take it that this is the next FAC? (I was probably harsher on it than I would normally be at GAC, but I don't expect you'll mind!) J Milburn (talk) 00:15, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Probably not the next FAC (need time away for strategic distance), but it's certainly in the queue. Thanks for a thorough review, it definitely helped. Sasata (talk) 05:11, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
Looking good, promoted. I look forward to seeing this at FAC :) J Milburn (talk) 11:08, 18 January 2011 (UTC)Reply