This one grew along a trail in the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies forest:
Mushroom 2560×1440
It makes a great landscape monitor background…
Monthly Image: Mushroom
Blowback
This one grew along a trail in the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies forest:
Mushroom 2560×1440
It makes a great landscape monitor background…
#1 by Frans on 16-March-2013 - 09:27
Do you perhaps know what kind of mushroom that is? My European eyes are wholly unaccustomed to spiky mushrooms.
#2 by Ed on 16-March-2013 - 09:54
Our field guide says it’s probably a Gem-studded Puffball, but that doesn’t pin it down very closely. If that’s what it is, then you won’t see one in your forest: it’s native to North America.
We are not eaters or smokers of wild mushrooms, so getting a precise ID remains of academic interest… [grin]
#3 by Frans on 18-March-2013 - 05:22
Oh, that reminds me, we do actually have a similar kind of puffer. But I prefer these: they turn into a fun ball that rolls around in the wind or thanks to human kicks, puffing out spores.
Incidentally, in Dutch they’re called stuifzwammen, which means as much as dust-making fungi, or perhaps dashing fungi.
#4 by Frans on 18-March-2013 - 05:25
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parelstuifzwam
Ah yes, here it is. Wikipedia claims it has the same scientific name, but I find it somewhat unlikely that a European mushroom would be growing in America? Although I guess it could’ve been (accidentally) imported.
#5 by Ed on 18-March-2013 - 08:58
In either direction, much as we got honeybees and the Brits got gray squirrels: some good ideas transplant better than others.
#6 by Ed on 18-March-2013 - 08:57
Similar puffballs grow in the lawn and along the edges of the driveway, with the bigger ones reaching softball size.
I’ve learned to not mow the ripe ones… *cough*
#7 by Frans on 18-March-2013 - 10:10
Naturally. We have American trees and vice versa. I’m sure spurs can travel just as easily as seeds.
Btw, why would they introduce gray squirrels where red squirrels already live?
#8 by Ed on 18-March-2013 - 11:00
I can’t find a reliable reference as to why it happened, but I’m sure it made sense at the time… perhaps because they’re so cute! [wince]