Rain Results

 

After the rain...some lovely moss (washed out of a gutter) and a teeny-tiny mushroom.

Petite Fungi

A miniature mushroom crop!

So very very small...doll-sized fungi.

And so cute! There were tons of them hiding under some leaf detritus.
 

Book or 'Shroom?

Nature...its wonders never cease to amaze me!

The End

Bye-bye, 'shroom...

'Shroom Zoom

 After it rains, mushrooms sometimes come up in the mulch.
Day one.

 Day two.

Day three.
Fascinating!

The View from Here (in the Mushroom Forest)

 More funky fungi have sprouted...look at the last photo: it's a veritable forest of them. They aren't particularly attractive, are they?

Mushroom Forest

 A LOT of mushrooms appear to have popped up in the mulch. Freaky (and cool).

Three of a Kind

Mushroom triplets.

Shroom Zoom

How cool is this? This is an itsy-bitsy mushroom in my neighbor's newly sodded lawn. Sweet and petite!

Frilly Fungi

Really, how marvelous are the gills on a mushroom? So intricate...once again, we must hand it to Mother Nature!

This rather large specimen popped up in our front yard. I always take care to remove them immediately even though Tallulah Mae is not loose in the front (nor is she interested in eating mushrooms these days)--we had TWO visits to the doggy ER when she was a puppy after mushroom-eating incidents, so an abundance of caution is in order. Silly girl!

File Under: Weird/Creepy/Umm.../Fascinating/Not for the Faint of Heart. Also? Ewwww!

So B. was tidying the yard on Sunday when he came upon this. (As my mom put it, one's natural reaction is "What the [blank] is THAT?"). Ewww...

The top of it is limp and slimy...and it is smelly. 

 The "stalk" is spongy.

  And it is apparently hollow.

And yes, I know EXACTLY what it resembles! {Giggle}. What is it? It is a stinkhorn mushroom, in the order Phallaceae (um, yeah!). Let's see what Wikipedia has to say, shall we?

The Phallaceae are a family of fungi, commonly known as stinkhorn mushrooms. Belonging to the fungal order Phallales, the Phallaceae have a worldwide distribution, but are especially prevalent in tropical regions. They are known for their foul-smelling, sticky spore masses, or gleba, borne on the end of a stalk called the receptaculum. The characteristic fruiting-body structure, a single, unbranched receptaculum with an externally attached gleba on the upper part, distinguishes the Phallaceae from other families in the Phalalles. The spore mass typically smells of carrion or dung, and attracts flies and other insects to help disperse the spores. Although a great diversity of body structure shape exists between the various genera, all species in the Phallaceae begin their development as oval or round structures known as "eggs". According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 21 genera and 77 species.

Oh, nice: "foul-smelling," "carrion," and "dung." All that AND a penis shape!

And once you have phallic mushroom visitor, apparently you'll have others, because this is the one I dug up yesterday...check out that pink weirdness at the bottom (ewwwwwww!).

 And here it is still growing...not quite as disgusting in situ.

Kinda gross, sorta weird, definitely phallic...but SO fascinating, yes? Nature--it never ceases to amaze.

You simply MUST check out Google images of other 'shrooms in this order/family: Wow! (and: ewwwww!).

Bumbershroom

Fascinating, aren't they?
 

Fungus, Plural

A frolic of fungi? A mob of mushrooms? A tra-la-la of truffles?

What's the word for a gathering of mushrooms/fungi/truffles? (Other than "yum," if they are edible.)

Fungus Among Us

 

 

Isn't it lovely?

Foziewisp Wednesday

 A tiny umbrella...

...and a red carpet.

I {Heart} Farmers' Markets All Year Round

First up, just for the fabulous Miss JuJu: Jujubes! I've never seen these before (only the candy!)--apparently these are sometimes known as Chinese dates. (They're being displayed perfectly by Miss Robin of Various and Sunday.)
A magically floating basket of tiny gourds (oh Blogger--why does it sometimes insert photos sideways?)
Lovely intermingled squash.
A lobster mushroom collected in the wild. Fun fungus fact: technically not a mushroom at all, but rather a fungus that grows on mushrooms.
Basket full of deliciously aromatic mixed 'shrooms (one of these came home with me and was turned into a fantastically tasty pasta...yum!).

Shroomtown

Aren't you just waiting for a gnome family to come peeking out from around one of these little 'shrooms?

(Odd photos...the mushrooms look almost painted on to a backdrop, but I can assure you there's no dad-gum Photoshop tomfoolery round these here parts! I don't even have it loaded on my computer.)

Mushroom Nerd

Fun Fact: In addition to being an enthusiastic bird geek (remember, always meant in the very best way!), I'm also a bit of a mushroom nerd. While I know a tiny amount about birds, I cheerfully admit to knowing absolutely nothing about 'shrooms. Aren't they cool, though?

Fun Fact #2: Miss Tallulah Mae has, twice, eaten mushrooms from our backyard--and twice, she had to go to the doggie emergency hospital to, in essence, have her stomach pumped. Good times.
These images were taken at the delightfully low-tech San Diego Mycological Society Mushroom Fair. Cute little tableau above, yes?
It's a bit unfortunate that, from the back, this little mushroom picker appears to be flashing his...hmm...toadstool, perhaps?