Friday 25 November 2011

Mushroom medley

Driving back from Emma's place last weekend, through the country lanes just outside Fleet, my attention was attracted by an impressive clump of Shaggy Ink Cap fungi at the side of the road. I went back later on to photograph them:

Mature Shaggy Ink Cap


Young Shaggy Ink Caps

My knowledge of fungi is strictly limited, and there is no way I would risk eating fungi harvested in the wild without the benefit of some very specialist advice, but I don't mind photographing them...  Looking around near the Shaggy Ink Caps, I realised that the area was teeming with all sorts of other fungi. They were mostly more unobtrusive, and not the type you would notice when driving past in your car, but when you are on foot it is easy enough to spot them. All the following photos were taken within a couple of metres of the road:-






This is one I think I recognise. I believe it is a Boletus of some sort, so probably edible. The black slug you can see obviously thinks it is...

Boletus?




This little green one looks deadly! It probably glows in the dark.


These ones were all growing on an old tree-stump:





This tiny little plant (not a fungus!) was also growing in the rotted wood.


The next two might be clumps of the same type of fungus, at different stages of maturity. But then again, they are of different colours so they could be completely different  types as far as I know.






Did any of you spot any wonderful delicacies in that selection of photos? If so I'm in for a feast, because there were loads of them!






9 comments:

  1. A great selection you found - the first few are very well camouflaged against the fallen leaves aren't they.

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  2. Interesting looking! I don't know my fungi either. Neat pictures, though.

    Lynn

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  3. It will be nice if some of it are edible!

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  4. The young shaggy ink cap are considered a great delicacy, Mark. I haven't tried them yet myself. I'll let you try them first...

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  5. They are really beautiful photos Mark. I particularly like the shots of the fungi (as opposed to the mushrooms) Do slugs find the same things poisonous that we do? I'm not too sure.

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  6. It would be great to be a fungi expert with all that free food available! Lovely photos.

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  7. There are some really interesting fungi at the moment. We get the greeny coloured ones growing on the grass paths on our plot. They seem to start off a mushroom looking colour. The shaggy ink cap must be cousins of my shaggy parasols!

    You even managed to get an acorn sprouting in the fourth photo!

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  8. That's quite the collection. It would be great to know which to eat! Great photos, the mold is very interesting.

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  9. A very pretty collection! Never seen anything like the ink caps. Most people, unless they're experts, wouldn't risk eating wild mushrooms. But I know there are some rather mean people out there, who test the mushrooms on stray dogs, before feasting on them. Of course, that kind of animal testing seems fraught with danger, since animals and men could react differently.

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