A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Coprinus comatus
Large, white, sausage-shaped mushroom, 16 cm high. The "sausage" stage covers most of the stem. This is a young phase. Pictures 1 and 2. Exactly 24 hours later, I took pictures 3 through 5. You wouldn't believe it was the same mushroom! The ring on the stem or stipe is now visible and the "sausage" has become a shaggy brown cap with gooey black gills. This black goo contains the spores. In the 4th picture, some of it is running down a root that was in contact with the mushroom.
Planted area along the sidewalk. Semi-urban area, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
Coprinus comatus, the Shaggy Mane, is also called the Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig (in England). It is a common fungus often seen growing on lawns, along gravel roads and waste areas. The young fruit bodies first appear as white cylinders emerging from the ground, then the bell-shaped caps open out. The caps are white, and covered with scales—this is the origin of the common names of the fungus. The gills beneath the cap are white, then pink, then turn black and secrete a black liquid filled with spores (hence the “ink cap” name). This mushroom is unusual because it will turn black and dissolve itself in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores. Coprinus comatus is a Nematophagous fungus capable of killing and digesting nematodes. A recent study has found the shaggy ink cap kills nematode species Panagrellus redivivus and Meloidogyne arenaria. When young it is an excellent edible mushroom provided that it is eaten soon after being collected (it keeps very badly because of the autodigestion of its gills and cap). It is cultivated in China for food (Wikipedia). It is also used in some kind of food or vitamin supplement (http://www.alliumherbal.biz/COPRINUS-HdT...)
Spotted on Jul 14, 2013
Submitted on Jul 15, 2013
