Tuesday, 4 October
Not that it has anything to do with mushrooms, but I just have to share this image first — after all, I did roll around on the ground to capture this slowpoke crossing the road at Bull Run Regional Park …
Wikipedia describes a mushroom as:
… the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. Like all fungi, mushrooms are not plants and do not undergo photosynthesis. The standard for the name “mushroom” is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word “mushroom” is most often applied to those fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) or pores on the underside of the cap.
We’ve been to Bull Run Regional Park many times. I’ve seen the occasional mushroom while wandering the grounds, but never in the numbers or varieties that I saw them this past weekend. After all the rain we’ve been getting the mushrooms had … well, they had mushroomed.
My fascination with mushrooms started with these funnel-shaped fungi on our campsite;
the one pictured in the two photos on the left has an 8½-inch (~22 cm) diameter.
There were big ones, small ones, tiny ones. There were white ones, pink ones, yellow ones, brown ones, orange ones, black ones. There were even mildewed ones that looked a little green around the gills. Some looked like they were covered in velvet; others looked like they were gilded in gold. The variety I didn’t see was the kind you see featured in cartoons — the red caps with the white dots.
Every time I saw a new variety, I had to stop for a closer look. Of course, the shutter went click each time, too. If you’ve not photographed mushrooms, trust me when I say that one must be a contortionist :-) And you can’t be too fastidious — I have two pairs of slacks to prove that I wasn’t!
I have no idea if the mushrooms were edible or not — and I wasn’t about to find out. I kept my hands to myself and just let the camera provide a cornucopia of fungi to enjoy. Someday, when I have spare time on my hands (yeah, right!!!!) I’ll do some research to find out more about the mushrooms that were such a source of fascination to me. In the meantime, if you’re into mushrooms and can identify them, please leave a comment here or in my online gallery (link at the bottom of the post).
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(The photo in the lower left is the same mushroom after the Saturday night deluge.)
Not sure if this is a variety of fungi, but I liked the brilliant orange-yellow and couldn't resist clicking the shutter.
If you’ve not tired of the mushrooms featured here, or you’d like to see individual versions of some that went into the collages, feel free to visit my online gallery here.
Fungi....I LOVE IT!!! In fact, just bought a big jar of marinated mushrooms. (I know, that's just not the same, is it?)
ReplyDeleteGreat photo of the snail. Donna wants me to pluck them all off her Hosta plants and throw them out of the yard!! (I haven't done it yet, but she's becoming more adamant...she's threatening to take away my fungi...maybe I should comply with her wishes.)
Your photos are always so interesting, and colorful, and clear. Love them always!
Wow!
ReplyDeleteSo this is where all our rain has gone. What variety, so gorgeous! I have all the pertinent literature to I.D. these guys, but my bedside table is currently overflowing with star charts and what-not, so you're on your own ;)
Normal people should never, EVER attempt to identify and EAT a mushroom! You can become seriously dead. That little snail on the other hand? With a smidge of garlic butter and a chilled Sancerre? He'd be a goner.
Wonderful pictures, you certainly have an eye to capture the unusual beauty of nature. Amazing all the kinds of mushrooms you found.
ReplyDeleteLoved the picture of the snail, hope it made it across the road okay.
I find mushrooms interesting as well. The favorites that I've seen have been along the Washington coast in fall also. Those red ones with the white dots are really something.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of the fungi! We have taken a bunch of those pics as well:)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. There was one that looked almost red - you could paint the white dots on it. One looked like a toasted marshmallow and I saw other whimsical images as well in some of the others. I will have to start looking more closely at these fun guys!
ReplyDeletequite the bevy of fungi you found!..and you must be quite the contortinist to get all those ground level photos?!!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about them, but you certainly captured some interesting views of mushrooms. I especially love the purple one.
ReplyDeleteNe kadar da çok çeşit mantar var. Üstü top gibi yuvarlak olan beyaz mantarlardan Çesme'deki evin önünde de görmüştük 2 sene kadar önce. -- SIS
ReplyDelete(Translation of the comment: "What a variety of mushrooms there are. About two years ago we saw some of those white mushrooms with the ball-like head in front of the house in Çesme.")
Süper bir çalışma...ama bence konu başlığı "MUIshrooms" olmalıydı. Bizim memlekette de mantar bol, özellikle insan olanları. -- Ömer T.
ReplyDeleteMuicim, yine harika fotoğraflar. Erin'in eline, vizörüne sağlık:))). Çok benzerlerini 3 yıl önce Moskova yakınlarında bir ormanda ben de fotoğraflamıştım amatörce. Sizin ve Nasslı'nın doğa fotoğraflarının yanında esamisi okunmaz ama anı topluyoruz işte biz de kendi çapımızda:))). Nice gezilere ve anılara...
ReplyDeleteMünire Y.
Not sure if my comment posted, sorry if it shows twice. Love the photos, excellent shots! What kind of camera do you use?-- in addition to having an excellent eye for settings and lighting!
ReplyDeleteJeannie, comment posted OK (and not duplicated). To answer your question, all of the images in this post were taken with a Canon Powershot G12; the vari-angle LCD screen is perfect for capturing odd angles that require quite a bit of contortionism :-))
ReplyDeleteWow! You've really been paying attention! That's incredible really to spot so many different types of mushrooms. Thanks for that. Miss you over at A Camp Host's Meanderings! Take care...
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing find - and great photos too!
ReplyDeleteI think that great snail shot is the perfect lead in to SO many fantastic mushrooms. Don't they both like moist places?? Or is that slugs??? :-)
ReplyDeleteI know I would definitely have been right there with you crawling around taking pictures of all those great colored mushrooms.
Life provides so many beautiful and amazing things. Thanks for sharing these.
Erin - such an incredible collection of mushroom pictures! When I lived in Latvia, mushroom picking was a favorite outdoor activity for many people. We knew our mushrooms very well. Everybody had a favorite place to go mushroom picking – and nobody was sharing a location, even with friends. After you bring home a bucket or two of mushrooms, you sort them according to their “importance” and usage. Then you either marinate them to be used later, or make a fabulous meal of fried mushrooms with onions and sour cream, with potatoes as a side dish. Just writing about it makes me hungry…
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