One of the followers of this blog has identified the mushroom I labeled “unknown” as Coprinus comatus, Shaggy Mane Mushroom. A Latvian artist now living in Canada made the following comment:
“Your mushroom might be a bit older specimen of shaggy mane, Coprinus comatus: see http://healing-mushrooms.net/archives/9.html or Cortinarius caperatus, commonly known as the gypsy mushroom: check out Wikipedia. Since it’s a photo, I can not be completely sure, but these mushrooms have similar shape and when get older get dark bluish color. Coprinus becomes completely black-blue. It might look that way because of extensive rain. I’ve seen these mushrooms in the forests of Latvia where it is very common to pick wild mushrooms, and everybody knows them.”
With her response, I did some additional research and have concluded that she is correct. “This mushroom is unusual because it will turn black and dissolve itself in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.” They are eatable at the young, white stage. Although they are beautiful at the black stage, they are not eatable. There’s a reason why you don’t see Shaggy Mane Mushrooms in stores, they only last 4-6 hours.
This morning I was back on the Upper Butterfly trail hiking with the Monday Morning Milers when I spotted two mushrooms down in the brush that resembled the one I photographed last Friday.
Even though there was a heavy downpour, (The third hike in the rain since July 5th.) I had to get an image of this mushroom. This one is not the work of a human hand, as I had concluded in the earlier posting. Just to be sure, I carefully reached under the crown to see if I could lift it — no, this was natures work.The stem of this mushroom is 8-10 inches hight, which is about the same height as the mushroom previously posted. I spent some time online trying to identify this mushroom with no luck. So, for now I’m labeling it as “unknown.”
While hiking the Upper Butterfly trail this past Friday, I noticed a beautiful black mushroom. Not being an expert on mushrooms, it’s not surprising that I had never seen such a beautiful mushroom. Cool! Well, not really if you think this mushroom shape was created by nature. The mushroom is the work of nature, but not the form.
One of our fellow hikers, Bonnie, having had some experience with mushrooms, noted that mushrooms spores are never on top. This mushroom is, therefore, an artifact. Some creative person came along the trail, saw the mushroom, and crafted a new shape out of the existing mushroom. Cool, yes, but then I would love to have captured a “before” image.
Thanks, Bonnie, otherwise I would have posted these images without knowing that an inherent element had been changed resulting in a mushroom artifact.
Hiking down the trail before the rain
Caught in the rain on the way back up the trail, the colors jump at me. Water adds to both life and death. — Image by kenne
Shaggy Mane Mushroom — Images by kenne
One of the followers of this blog has identified the mushroom I labeled “unknown” as Coprinus comatus, 
Images by kenne
Images by kenne
