Seen by the side of the street, today:
What was that? Leftover Easter eggs? I had passed them already when I realized; 'shrooms! I did a U-turn on a side street, and went back.The grass beside the sidewalk was full of them, big mushrooms, up to the size and shape of a goose egg, singly and in clumps.
I could identify them immediately as Coprinus, "Inky Caps", because a fair number were turning into a dribble of blue-black goo at the edges. They weren't Shaggy Mane, Coprinus comatus, which I am familiar with, but slightly different, with just a hint of shagginess.
A close-up; see how they deliquesce, oozing down into the grass.
One had been stepped on; I brought it home to show Laurie. It smelled wonderful, like the smell of the piney woods I hiked in up north, nutty and sweet. The intact buttons would have been edible*, but they were just too beautiful to harvest.*In case you are ever tempted to try them, pick only the intact mushrooms, cook them quickly, and (very important) take no alcohol with them, nor for the next 3 days, since they interfere with the metabolism of alcohol, making it extremely toxic.
Last week, along our street, Laurie saw this:
... put out as a "freebie" beside a pile of spring clean-up leftovers.Tomorrow; who knows? We'll be pleasantly surprised. Again.
