wrote:
It's that time again, I've got mushrooms under the (relatively new) almond tree,
and we're looking for hints in identification.

With usual provisos - yes, we're not going to eat them; yes, we know you can't tell
much just from a photo; no, we're not going to poison anyone with them; no, we're
not going to sell them to the local school kids; etc

http://comps.org/vicky/may_mushroom.jpg

The tops are brown and the whole thing looked almost spherical. The brown was
very shiny but it was damp. You couldn't really see the base, as it was growing
up between stones, but when I took one out you could see the white fluffy stuff
I have forgotten the name of, with no underground growth to speak of. The size
should be obvious from the scale in the photo, but was approx 1.25 inches across.

A good /starting/ point is to look at http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/
particularly the "visual key" and "easy key" and "glossary".
From that you will gain an understanding of:
- what aspects of a fungus are used when making an identification,
and therefore what info/pictures you need to supply
- why several photos are necessary
- how/when to eat/avoid fungi
and be able to compare your specimen with the examples shown.

I'm not going to attempt to identify your specimen because I
don't think you've given sufficient information and, as you
are well aware, mis-identification could have serious consequences.

Sorry.