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| The sickener - Russula emetica |
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| The sickener - Russula emetica |
Showing posts with label russula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russula. Show all posts
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Monday, 22 February 2016
Blackening Russule
Monday Mushroom #99
The blackening russule begins as a stout, creamy white mushroom with a coffee-coloured flush to the depressed center of its cap.
This mushroom's gills are very distinctive: exceptionally thick and widely spaced. To me, they look rather like sliced almonds and have the same brittle texture.
Last time, I covered Asterophora lycoperdoides - the powdery piggyback fungus, which grows out of these black lumps.
The blackening russule begins as a stout, creamy white mushroom with a coffee-coloured flush to the depressed center of its cap.
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| Young blackening russule - Russula nigricans |
This mushroom's gills are very distinctive: exceptionally thick and widely spaced. To me, they look rather like sliced almonds and have the same brittle texture.
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| blackening russule - Russula nigricans - gills. |
As they age, they shrivel and turn black...
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| Mature blackening russule - Russula nigricans |
Persisting as cryptic black lumps on the forest floor after the season ends.
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| Blackening russule - Russula nigricans - old, detatched fruiting body. This one is still recognisably a mushroom, but will disintegrate into charcoal-like lumps over time. |
Monday, 8 February 2016
Powdery Piggyback
Monday Mushroom #98
The blackening russule - Russula nigricans is well named for the way it turns black on maturation, eventually degenerating into nondescript brittle black lumps that strongly resemble charcoal. It is a very common fungus round these parts and has developed parasitic hangers on - another fungus called the powdery piggyback fungus - Asterophora lycoperdoides - which emerges as little white mushrooms as the russule blackens.
The blackening russule - Russula nigricans is well named for the way it turns black on maturation, eventually degenerating into nondescript brittle black lumps that strongly resemble charcoal. It is a very common fungus round these parts and has developed parasitic hangers on - another fungus called the powdery piggyback fungus - Asterophora lycoperdoides - which emerges as little white mushrooms as the russule blackens.
These parasites are unusual in that their caps disintegrate into a brownish, spore bearing powder by a process totally unrelated to the development of spores on their gills.
Monday, 13 April 2015
Yellow Swamp Russule
Monday Mushroom #68
A bright yellow, medium sized russula of boggy birch woods.
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| Russula claroflava - Yellow Swamp Russule |
Monday, 10 October 2011
The Sickener
Monday Mushroom #22
This bright, little mushroom of the boggier conifer plantations goes by the name of 'The Sickener'
This bright, little mushroom of the boggier conifer plantations goes by the name of 'The Sickener'
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| Russula emetica - The Sickener |
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| Russula emetica - The Sickener |
When starting out, russulas are one of the most easily recognised mushroom genera - they have a distinct look - the stout, brittle stems, white or off white gills and flesh and smooth, regular, often brightly coloured caps. But there are many different species, and identifying the individual species is quite tricky - which is a shame as many are good edibles, but quite a few are - like the sickener - likely to cause gastric upsets.
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