Myco magic: more mushrooms

Autumn is the time to see fungi. Although these organisms (fungi are not plants!) are present year round they become more noticeable as they produce reproductive structures especially in late summer and autumn. These reproductive structures we know as mushrooms, toadstools and bracket polypores.

Many mushrooms [op up in grassland. These are of the hooded variety that burst from the ground as a rounded ball (left). Other fungi grow on wood. On the right the white buds thus burst from the bark to produce a delicate gilled fans where the spores develop (middle).

As the reproductive organs of a fungus some mushrooms seem to emphasise this by their shape as the first egg or ball burst from the ground the stalk starts to grow to raise the hood. At sufficient height the hood expands and opens up revealing the gills underneath so that the spores can be released into the air. These ageric mushrooms are widespread in parks, especially around oak trees.

Some mushrooms work with plants, others serve as the clean-up crew. These saprophytes live on dead or decaying organic matter. As wood is difficult to digest mushrooms have specialised with species growing on a specific species of tree. The sulphur hooded mushrooms are omnipresent in parks, gardens and woodland. I was also taken by the cluster of ink black mushrooms at the foot of a tree.