We counted probably more than 20 different species ranging
from very minute ones to huge mushrooms; and from eatable (chanterelles) to outright poisonous
mushrooms. No I do not dare to harvest
anyone of them, since misidentification can prove deadly. I just admire the heck out of them. Having studied commercial mushroom growing
when I was young, I love seeing them come up out of the ground for their day or
sometimes hours of glory. Before you get
these great, what we call, fruiting bodies, mushrooms are nothing else but mold
threads in the soil, that when conditions are ripe, come together as a group
and all the sudden pop up out of the ground in these and interesting
forms. For example the eatable “hen of the woods” looks more like a white flower (gardenia) that has fallen on the
ground.
Mushrooms help in the breakdown of organic matter in the
soil, and a lot of mushrooms are micorrhizal, in other words
they live on roots in a symbiotic relationship.
The roots supply the fungi (mold) with nutrients like sugar, and the
molds help with the uptake of water and fertilizer by the roots. In essence they scratch the root’s back and
the roots scratch theirs. So the soil
and many plants need these fungi.
Well, Sunday I took many photographs and here are two of the
really poisonous ones. I identified the reddish
mushroom on the left as the “big laughing Gym”. It is tall and has a circumference of about a
foot. That mushroom is hallucinogenic and
according to my mushroom book causes “irrational laughing.” The white mushrooms are as big as dinner
plates, and are named “destroying
angles”. They are deadly when
consumed; according to Wikipedia more than half the deaths from mushroom poisoning
are caused by this mushroom; although it is a micorrhizal mushroom and really
useful and important for plants. An
interesting world we live in indeed. Although
some are deadly to us, they are useful and essential for others, in particular plants. It was a fun walk through the woods and just great to see them all out.
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