6 Mushrooms/ 22nd of August 2010

Morning Walk.
On the 22nd of August I went for a quick wander to see if I could find anything within fifteen minutes walk. By the time I came home I had three mushrooms but special ones, at least to me.
There's a path very close to where I live but one I seldom visit and there shining out was, no pun intended; an earthstar, one of the strangest mushrooms.

The sac on top is filled with spores and when a drop of water or any thing that touches the elastic like sac, with the lightest of force releases spores through a tiny opening at the top. It has a bowl or collar underneath the spore sac. The legs that lift it up are called 'rays'. This particular mushroom is Geastrum triplex/Collared Earthstar.
I pick this one and put in my collection box. As I walk further down the road I can hear it bump about and needless to say when I open the lid the inside is covered in spores.

Further down the path I find (for the first time this year) Amanita muscaria/Fly Agaric. It's growing the same place as two years ago. I didn't see it last year. I've always been fond of this mushroom. These are very large, growing in a bank covered by bracken and next to birch. The largest was about 20 cms wide and some had lost all their warts and a lot of colour.

At the bottom of the path was this Tricholoma. Possibly Tricholoma columbetta. Along with some Birch Boletes.

Afternoon Walk.
Later on down foxhole there are still Boletus pulverulentus/Inkstain Bolete which are about in great numbers. Dozens of them. The dark blue occurs when it's cut or bruised in anyway, (See below).

Alongside the road that runs by Sainsburys are Scleroderma citrinum/Common Earthball in large numbers. I've seen a great deal of Earthballs of all kinds, all over Swansea this year.

Also at Sainsburys, growing in the bark mulch is Leratiomyces ceres/Redlead Roundhead. This is also known as Stropharia aurantiaca.


Swansea Foxhole path/Sainburys 22-8-10
Geastrum triplex/Collared Earthstar.
Tricholoma columbetta
Amanita muscaria/Fly Agaric.
Boletus pulverulentus/Inkstain Bolete
Scleroderma citrinum/Common Earthball
Leratiomyces ceres/Redlead Roundhead. (Stropharia aurantiaca).