Gaze into the inky depths...
You are feeling sleepy, very sleepy...
I believe this is The Devil's Urn, Urnula craterium. At least according to the most entertaining key you'll ever see.
So, The Devil's Urn... the Stephen King of fungi?
There are possibly more suitable candidates for that title:
Death Cap
The Sickener
Destroying Angel
Bleeding Heart Mycena
Poison Pie
Trumpet of Death
Dead Man's Fingers
I found this link about mushroom poisoning in general and the Death Cap mushroom in particular.
The page itself is interesting, but so are the google ads. The first one fits: Morel mushroom hunting. Sure. The next one though, is Hats and Caps for Men. Hmm. Then you have Death Indemnity Coverage. Kind of drives home the whole "world's most dangerous mushroom" idea.
You betcha- I was terrified of mushrooms until I was older. Seems like I read a story about poison "toad stools" and looked at any fungus with dread.
ReplyDeleteThe site you sent me to was very interesting and your picture, perfect :)
Thanks for that link! Morels are my favorites, and the season is coming...yay! Those little cup fungi are cool...I have those up here, too, along with the ones that look like a bird's nest.
ReplyDeleteMushrooms appear here once in a while, but nothing as interesting as this one, Rurality. I like the way nature uses the same shapes - this mushroom reminds me of some barnacle shells on the Carolina coast.
ReplyDeleteAnnie
After my grandfather died, and we were cleaning up his house to sell, we had a very rainy fall. And mushrooms came up all around his house like crazy. We had puffballs bigger than soccer balls and just all kinds of mushrooms but I remember a huge patch of the fairy tale looking red capped poisonous mushrooms. Fly agaric I think they were. They were beautiful. I think there were death cap as well. Just tons of mushrooms I had never seen before and probably never will again.
ReplyDeleteI don't go near Amanita. I guess there are safe species, but nooo way.
ReplyDeleteI understand, though - that you could place them in your collecting basket and not contaminate edibles. Riight.)
(I resisted the siren call of your cup fungus photo - veeryy creepy :0)
Cool... I love that cup fungus, no matter what you call it. :)
ReplyDeleteCup fungus ... so that's what that is! I find it quite often in my garden.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen these before...but if I did - I would certainly stay FAR FAR away from them. Freaky looking.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. At first glance I thought they were pods of some sort. Interesting link, too. We used to hunt, quite successfully, for morels up at Lost Loon Lodge, but to me mushrooms always taste like- fungus.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting! I remember seeing those in the woods on my grandfather's farm, but I didn't know what they were. That's what I love about your blog...all the good information and lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteyikes!! but that is a beautiful shot.
ReplyDeleteThe names for amanitas aren't exactly subtle, are they? Well, I guess they're about as subtle as the consequences of ingesting them, so it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteNeat fungus.
Here is another cool link for info on this mushroom, also called the Black Tulip mushroom.
ReplyDelete