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Fungi ID 🍄

*Astrantia**Astrantia* Posts: 307
in Plants
These were coming up in a patch of lawn in a friends garden just wondering what they are? The secateurs are there for scale not to harvest them!

The one that looks like a fried egg was in a scrubby field. 

I don’t really know anything about fungi and hate eating them but I’m interested to know what they are called & why they suddenly appear in what seems random places over night. Watching  EARTH on TV was very interesting how they explained the relationship between plants & fungi. 

Posts

  • coccinellacoccinella Posts: 1,428
    There are a number of fungi experts on the forum, but they might not be around until later in the year when the main season starts. Post again in September 🙂


    Luxembourg
  • *Astrantia**Astrantia* Posts: 307
    Ok thank you! Maybe someone will know.
    saw this yesterday amazing how it’s just growing out of tarmac! Believe it’s an ink cap.


  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Yes, shaggy inkcap.
    It is very difficult to identify fungi just by looking at the cap from above. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and identify them as LBM's - little brown mushrooms. There are at least 15,000 different species of fungi in the UK.
    Ideally you would also take a side view to show the shape of the cap and detail of the full length of the stem. A close up shot of the underside which clearly shows the structure of the gills or pores and how they connect to the stem would also be needed.
    Even with all that detail you might need to take a spore print to separate similar fungi. Lay a cap gill/pore side down on a piece of paper overnight and you will see a spore pattern next day. The colour of the spores is helpful but even then you may need to use a microscope to check the shape and size of the spores.

  • *Astrantia**Astrantia* Posts: 307
    Thank you for the info steephill. I’ll keep enjoying looking at them and how rapidly they change! Can’t stand eating mushrooms no no fear of me being poisoned 😂
    Out of interest this was the same shaggy ink cap 2 days ago then this morning, fascinating!



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