Shaggy Ink Cap

Description:

This mushroom appears to be the Shaggy Ink Cap. The cap was 8 cm long and the underside gills were already black, as in a mature specimen. However, this one did not dissolve in inky goo, but rather rolled up, inside-out into a disk of black gills around the top portion of the cap. In looking at pictures of Coprinus comatus, it seems that some specimens do roll up instead of dissolving (http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/ink-cap...). The self-digestion/rolling-up process is also a way of releasing the spores over a longer period of time, and allowing the release of spores from very closely spaced narrow gills borne inside a longitudinally tall pileus. The capped form was seen on the 23 of June, while the disk form was seen the following day on the 24th.

Habitat:

This mushroom was by itself in a grassy plot near trees within the grounds of the Hotel Bosques del Sol, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

Notes:

These mushrooms are edible when still young (when the gills are white or pink in color). As a fascinating aside, new studies have shown that the Shaggy Ink Cap, while saprophytic is also carnivorous, feeding on soil nematodes. The roots or hyphae produce sharp burr-like growths which wound and envenom any nematode which brushes against them, then envelopes the worm in hyphae to digest it (http://hubpages.com/education/The-Shaggy...). See also: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinoid..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinopsi... And see this great explanation of the systematic problems that have occurred within the Ink Cap Mushrooms (http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/...).