Funguary - Blog Posts
Funguary Day 13: Fly Agaric
The Fly Agaric is quite possibly the most iconic mushroom there is. It was traditionally used as an insecticide. The cap was broken into pieces and sprinkled into saucers of milk. It contains ibotenic acid which both attracts and kills flies, thus, giving it its name.
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Funguary Day 2: Cremini
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Funguary Day 12: Cremini
The cremini is one of the most commonly and widely consumed mushrooms in the world. It is cultivated in over 70 countries. You’ve likely heard of this mushroom, it goes by several different names for its two different appearances in its immature state and even more names in its mature state. Some of these names include button mushroom, champignon, chestnut mushroom, and portobello.
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Funguary Day 11: Devils cigar
While emerging from the ground this mushroom looks like a cigar, giving it its name. When there is a sudden change in humidity (for example a rainstorm) this mushroom suddenly opens up, releasing its spores in a puff of “smoke”. Due to the pressure the spores release almost explosively, creating an audible hiss.
It is also extremely rare, only being found in Texas and Japan
Funguary Day 10: Guepinia
Most of the mushrooms I’ve talked about so far this funguary have a defined gill or pore structure that produces the fungi’s spores, but Guepinia lacks that. The upper side of the mushroom is quite sterile, usually with a few isolated basidia (spore producing structure), while the underside of the mushroom is where the hymenium (spore producing tissue) is located. Overall the mushroom has a very gelatinous texture, more so at the edges while the base has a cartilage-like consistency.
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Funguary Day 9: Parrot Waxcap
This absolutely gorgeous mushroom is the Parrot Waxcap, also known as Gliophorus psittacinus. It most commonly starts off its life as the bright and vivid green mushroom it is commonly known for being, and as it gets older its color shifts more toward an orangish yellow.
However, they can also be bright yellow and red, and there is apparently also a rare blue variety from Humboldt county.
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Funguary Day 8: Destroying Angel
This mushroom is HIGHLY poisonous. I’m going to put a cut for this one because I’ve written a fairly vivid description of poisoning
People often eat this mushroom, mistaking the young destroying angel for a puffball mushroom (see below) or other edible species. Symptoms appear between 6-24 hours after consuming these mushrooms. Initial symptoms include violent abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms usually persist for 6-9 hours. Next there is a symptomless period in which the victim seems to recover. This provides a false sense of security while unbeknownst to the victim, the toxins are severely affecting the liver during this time. The fourth and final stage is a relapse, the toxins have completely destroyed the liver, causing gastrointestinal bleeding, coma, and kidney failure. Victims may “bleed out” due to the destruction of clotting factors in the blood. Death usually occurs within seven days after consumption.
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Funguary Day 7: Wrinkled Peach Mushroom
When young this mushroom has a soft pink color and deep net patterns. The color and patterning both fade with age.
This particular wrinkled peach is “weeping”, also known as guttation, a process in which the mushroom secretes excess moisture.
The wrinkled peach is also the only species in its genus, meaning taxonomists had such a difficult time fitting it into any other category that they had to make a whole new genus just for the wrinkled peach.
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Funguary Day 6: Inky Cap
Within 24 hours of emerging the fruiting bodies of the inky cap go through a process called “autodigestion” where they digest their own caps, becoming the black inky liquid commonly associated with these mushrooms.
Many believe that this is to spread the spores of the mushroom, although other doubt this due to the fact mature spores are released before the mushroom’s cells begin to break down
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Funguary Day 5: Enoki
In 1993 NASA sent enoki mushrooms to space as food for astronauts and to test the mushroom's reaction to zero gravity. Instead of growing vertically as it normally does, the enoki mushrooms shot out in all directions.
This is sadly a photo of enoki in boring normal gravity because NASA wasn't nice enough to take a photo of their enoki for me.
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Funguary Day 4: Morel
Morel refers to many species of fungi, so for this day of the challenge I've chosen what is in my opinion the coolest morel, the BURN MOREL.
The mycelium of the burn morel can lie dormant for up to 50 years, only growing fruiting bodies after the forest has been ravaged by a wildfire. Scientists have yet to discover a definitive reason for the mushrooms blooming after a fire disturbance. Some believe that it's due to a change in soil chemistry after burning, or an influx of nutrients released by the heat that the flames produce.
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Funguary Day 3: Spotted Cort
This is a lovely mushroom, and also a perfect example of mycorrhizal fungi!
The mushroom’s mycelium surrounds the roots of the tree and helps the tree to absorb water and nutrients. In exchange, the mushroom is provided with food and amino acids produced by the tree.
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Funguary Day 1: Veiled Lady
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Funguary Day 2: Chicken of the Woods
The chicken of the woods is most commonly known for being highly sought after for its edibility, but it is also a tree killer.
This mushroom infects trees causing a brown rot within the heartwood. The rot is primarily in the main trunk, but can extend into branches as well. It infects both living and nonliving trees, usually making its way into living trees through injuries in the bark or roots. Once mushrooms show up, there's nothing you can do to rid the tree of the fungi.
It also tastes like chicken
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Funguary Day 1: Veiled Lady
This mushroom has an intense stink that attracts insects and gives the mushroom its several other names, including “basket stinkhorn”, “longnet stinkhorn”, and “crinoline stinkhorn”. The insects attracted to the smell help spread the spores of the mushroom after coming into contact with it.
I've also made an art piece for this day you can see here!