A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Coprinopsis sp.
Coprinoid mushrooms in the process of self-digestion
Temperate Pacific coastal island lowlands
Spotted at the edge of a grassy area back of a beach in Saanichton. This spotting was a bit of a mystery until Project Noah member Gully Moy pointed me toward an opportunity to educate myself. See the links here and in the comments. Apparently, I spotted these mushrooms none too soon. 24 hours later and they'd have been gone, having self-destructed in the process of reproducing. Imagery notes: in the third image, the flash finally worked; the fourth image is a close-up of the underside of one of the caps.
Spotted on Sep 25, 2012
Submitted on Nov 19, 2012
4 Comments
They're cool aren't they. Some are great edibles. Look out for Coprinus comatus, before it turns to Ink of course!
Gully: thanks for the information. I've edited the spotting to reflect the information you provided. As I was following up, I looked at online images and found only one that looked like what I spotted. A click on that image led to the following link:
http://homegrownonahobbyfarm.com/inde...
It's an Ink-Cap of some sorts. The black substance is in fact the mushroom tissue deliquescing as they mature. It's a method of spore dispersal.
Ink-Caps are also known as Coprinoids. I'd guess that yours is of the Coprinopsis genera. You can read more about Ink-Caps here:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinoid....
strange