Cemetery Agaricus and some extras

I’m still two months behind and I’m in big trouble, this has been a fabulous mushroom summer of lots of rain and moderate temperatures, there’s so much coming up in the woods it’s just nuts! We’re not even to the prettiest stuff I’ve already found!

There was a mini-drought that lasted about 2-3 weeks and I was scared, but that was weeks ago and it’s just been rain and nice and rain and nice ever since.

These are from the first week of June--

Agaricus campestris 6-1-2013

Found these in the cemetery behind the barbecue place. There’s often mushrooms in cemeteries. Don't eat cemetery mushrooms, the grounds are probably treated with weed killer and stuff.

What looks like a deep shadow on the cap, above, is a shadow combined with very dark spores that have dropped onto it.



Agaricus campestris ring. It was so delicate the slightest breeze was blowing it around.

One thing I picked up while working out the ID on this one is if you find a mushroom growing on a big weed-free expanse of grass, don’t eat it. Think weed killer.



The gills and cap flesh, and tiny tunnels from larvae eating their way around. Some life, eh? Note the really tiny tunnels on the gill.

This is my summer to be plagued with confusion by mushrooms with tan caps, tan, pink or brown gills and a ring. I think I’m starting to sort them out. There’s a fine bunch of online mushroom people who help me out when I just get dizzy. I bug them as a last resort. If I had about 25 more mushroom books I might not have to bug them at all…



Marasmius sullivantii, which minutes after posting I discovered I had misidentified, because a kind soul who shall remain nameless but is famous in the world of mushroom hunters just sent me a message with the correction.

Here's what I thought it was--

I had done that thing we amateurs do where I found something close, so I forced it to match the description even though there were discrepancies in the text and the images, which I attributed to an idiosyncrasy of this particular mushroom's life. That just never works when it comes to identifying mushrooms!

Also I carefully glossed over the growing region when I was reading the description. Never grows here. All in all, a good thing, reminded me to be clinical when it comes to working out mushroom ID.



Helvella latispora, one of the “elfin saddles.”



Crucibulum laeve with peridioles telegraphing through unopened lids. I don’t see this very often and wonder if it was a factor of things going slightly wrong. Maybe they were trouping along with great vigor but then that mini-drought hit and foiled their plans.

Stay tuned for more pics and not many words! So many mushrooms!

Oh, but there will be many words about that stinkhorn…

Bird’s nest fungi and cracked cap Agrocybe

Here’s a couple things we found in early June, while walking just a few blocks to a nearby park.

Cyathus stercoreus. Each cup is about 1/4" across.

All those dots in the photo above are hundreds of bird’s nest fungi, Cyathus stercoreus. I see Crucibulum laeve and Cyathus striatus all over the place in the woods, but this was the first time I’d seen these. There’s my foot for scale.

I don’t know if they were growing in a circle in association with an old stump, or if they were working their way outward from a central starting point, or if that’s just how they all ended up.

Never saw the other two familiar bird’s nest fungi growing in such a dense mass like this. That was my first tip-off that something wasn’t right.

Cyathus striatus has a very obvious grooved inner surface, and Crucibulum laeve has white eggs. These had neither of those things.



Above, that one right in the middle has a shaggy cap which is lifting off to reveal the next surface, smooth and white.



I’m just going to say this fast: the eggs are called peridioles and each one has a funiculus attached to it (up to 8" long) which is a coiled cord that’s sticky on the innermost end and when a raindrop hits the nest the funiculus uncoils and shoots the peridiole up to three or four feet (funiculus attached) and if it hits something it whips around it like a tetherball so when the spores are released from the peridiole they can disperse further.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is something I’d like to see.

I also have to say I'm a little surprised at not being able to find any online imagery of a funiculum in action. Makes me think all the descriptions are just regurgitated descriptions. Kind of like what I just did.

If you find a bunch of bird's nest fungi and you look around, sometimes you can find the flung eggs a few feet away, stuck to plants and houses.

I know next time I come across any bird’s nest fungi I’m going to be poking around a little more seriously. Bringing a safety pin.

Four feet away, there was this.



This is Agrocybe dura (or A. molesta, species I or III—don’t ask) common name “cracked earthscale.”
 


The cracking is typical. Fine with me!

One of my best pals said walking with me is like walking with a dog, I have to stop and sniff everything every few feet. I was with a different best pal who was being pretty patient. I spent almost 15 minutes in this 4-foot area before he started openly hoping we could go soon.



The gills start out white, and darken with age. It has an evanescent ("disappearing quickly") ring, which you can see pieces of here.

The wonderful texture, below, makes it all worthwhile.

Click to view large, I insist!

There is a group on Flickr called “Texture Whores.” Yes, I have participated.