A Week of Discoveries

Last week I went looking for more mushrooms. I walked a favorite trail through a local children’s park and as is often the case here, there were lots to see. I didn’t find enough to do an entire fungi post but I found enough to show that the mushrooms are back. I’m starting with orange mycena mushrooms (Mycena leaiana) for no reason other than cuteness. These are small mushrooms that always cluster together on logs as they appear here. If I find one more than an inch across, I’m surprised. You’re better off leaving this one alone because it has names like funeral bell, deadly skullcap, autumn skullcap or deadly galerina (Galerina marginata.) Mycologists pretty much leave LBMs (Little Brown Mushrooms) alone because many are deadly and they can be hard to identify. My problem is, my colorblindness showed this one as green to me as I stood there, enough so I would have bet you a pizza that it was, and that’s one reason I don’t eat mushrooms. Fortunately this one’s shape helps give it…