Mushrooms

AI Mushroom Id.

| Flower Roberts

This is a first for me. I have used apps to identify plants for years.

Mystery Mushroom

I found this mushroom in the blueberry patch on top of the mulch.

I dissected it because the gills were covered.
The stem is very stout and fibrous.

Dissected mushroom


AI says it is a wine cap mushroom.

Covered gills
Uncovered gills


I NEVER EAT mushrooms I find. I like my liver too much. I think AI did a good job of using the photos I provided to identify this mushroom.


If I had not uncovered the gills, would it have said it was a King Boletto?
I may try it again with another speciman and see if it comes up with the same results.

App identification

FLOWER loves her liver

Stow Away Spores

| Flower Roberts

My house is full of plants now. I stay busy watering, turning and trimming them.

I was so happy to see these tiny mushrooms in the “Hibiscus Circus” pot by my couch.

They have sprouted by my favorite reading spot.

The entire pot has little colonies of different sizes.

This is the kind of surprise that makes me smile.

It is much more pleasant than finding dried up worms on the floor like last year.

Flow

Tree of Life Two

| Flower Roberts

I have found another Tree of Life located not far from the first.

Both are ancient sugar maples near a walking path that I frequent.

There is a variety of fungi tucked in its nooks and crannies.

The bark surface is covered with moss and lichens.

The mushrooms came and went each day.

My next post will be about Tree of Life One.

It is further along in the cycle of death and life.

FLOW and Ebb

A Message from the Fairies

| Flower Roberts

I have been ignoring the fairies.

My mind has been on the pandemic, politics and bereavement.

To tell the truth, I was thinking all good magic had left the Earth.

As one of my friends puts it, “The Force has been disturbed.”

So I was pleased to find this purple mushroom

strategically placed by our trail in the mountains

where we would be sure to see it as we passed.

I have never seen the purple mushroom, ‘Viscid Violet Cort’,

so I knew immediately that it was from the fairies.

They have houses here in the mountains also, made of moss and stone.

They were letting me know all is not lost.

I was not sure if I was supposed to eat this message after seeing it,

so I left it to spread its spores.

Maybe next fall I will find a family of purple Cortinarius indes among the detritus of this terrible 2020.

My heart goes out to the fairies.

Take heart folks. There is still some good magic amongst us.

FLOWER

 

Cute Button

| Flower Roberts

This darling little button looks good enough to eat.

Not a good idea though.

It’s an Amanita muscaria, Fly Agaric  mushroom button.

In the past, it was mixed with milk to drug houseflies.

Don’t count on our North American species to produce visions.

Eating this will produce sweating and dilirium.

Eye candy only.  It’s poisonous.

FLOW

 

Indigo Hunting

| Flower Roberts

One of my favorite mushrooms is the Indigo Milky Cap.

It is one of my favorite colors, Indigo blue, and has an unusual shape and texture.

It has been wet here in North Carolina. I should have been out indigo hunting.

I almost missed these. They have all ready faded, but are still beautiful.

Lactarius indigo

The advantage of finding them late is the snails have found them, too.

The snails and I both love these Lactarius indigo mushrooms.

Flow

Fungus Flowers

| Flower Roberts

All it takes is rain for the fungus flowers to appear.

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Even in winter, the bonnets bloom.

Perched on stalks like tiny parasols.

Raised only inches high to open their tops

and stretch out their gills

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to spread their spores

to sow some more

fungus flowers.

Flow

Jack O’Lanterns on a Stump

| Flower Roberts

I found a surprise while hiking in the mountains last week.

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How lucky to find a lovely grouping of Jack O’Lantern mushrooms on a fall afternoon.

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These orange Omphalotus olearius may look yummy, but they are poisonous.

These were perfectly positioned right beside the trail.

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I have heard that the gills glow green in the dark, but I have never seen this.

The leaves had not transformed to their lovely fall colors yet here in North Carolina.

I am glad the Jack O’Lanterns stepped in to add color.

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Flow

 

Yellow Umbrellas

| Flower Roberts

I spied some yellow umbrellas under a Key lime tree.

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If I were a fairy, I would have sat under one to drink lemonade.

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Since I am only a busy human, I had to continue with my menial tasks.

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But I can dream while I work

of sitting under a yellow umbrella

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beneath a Key lime tree

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Lemon-yellow Lepiota/ Lepiota lutea

drinking lemonade in the shade.

Flow