Nature Post! Now with more fungi!

[rubyelf]

I had a feeling it was just about time, after all that rain, for some of my favorite mushroom spots to FINALLY start giving me the kind of variety I've been waiting to see. I was right! I found some lovely flowers, too, including one I've never seen before (or at least don't remember ever seeing before), and those I could identify, but as with most

Comments

[msilverstar]

As always, your enthusiasm & knowledge are fascinating!

[rubyelf]

It's what makes me happy. It's easy to be passionate about something that makes you happy.

[froganon]

I'm absolutely thrilled with your pictures.
We do call the ghost pipes "indian pipes" here in the east, yes.
Your mushrooms are love.

I'm glad we found each other.
I've also found the instructions for doing shroom prints so I may try some of that soon!

[rubyelf]

Indian pipes is another common name... I just like ghost pipes better.

I've never done much in the way of spore prints because I make a habit of not picking, damaging, or otherwise making a mess of the things I photograph, but that's just a personal thing... there is no harm in exploring things by taking one home to study. Also, if you look online, a lot of sites will refer to spore color and bruise color, which means whether the flesh turns an odd color such as blue when it's bruised.

[froganon]

I feel bad to dig one up for that sort of thing. And in many of the woods I go to it is not allowed.

In the few places that it is allowed, if there are lots of a particular mushroom there, then maybe I would endeavor to dig up one. But if not a lot, my personal ethics would scream no.

If I do decide against spore prints altogether, there's plenty of other stuff I am learning to i.d. And the mushrooms are fun to take pictures of. Unlike birds and bugs, they don't move.

The other thing, there are a few places that give walking "lessons" with a teacher of sorts [usually because people want to eat stuff] but if I found a group that was cheap enough, perhaps I would go for some learning, not necessarily to bring shrooms back to eat.

[rubyelf]

Those groups are great fun and the guide can usually tell you WHY certain fungi are coming up in certain places, which is what I like to know (i.e. I think my reddish-yellow boletes prefer to live in association with oak roots, because I always find them under big oaks, and morels are well-known to prefer old abandoned orchards because they are symbiotic with many trees but like fruit trees).

[silvan_lady]

A fascinating post as always - interested to read about the different types of robins too!

I love those little purple star flowers - very pretty. And the spiky balls - I've never seen anything like that.

[rubyelf]

The bur-reeds are all along the edges of the lake. Apparently their shape is to help them float so they can drift off to new spots.

[itsjustc]

Great Photos and a really interesting and informative post - I love looking at species we don't get in the UK.

I especially love those little purple star flowers.

[rubyelf]

Thank you... you actually do have those little purple star flowers in the UK somewhere... that nightshade is a native of most of Europe and Asia.