Seasonal Almanac

Today is Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday. It’s the fourth day since the cool change (and the rain). I noticed some small stands of delicate fungi growing in the mulch near the garage entrance.

Fungus has its only kingdom – the Kingdom of Fungi in the biological taxonomical universe. Most fungi is not visible to us, what we normally idenitfy as a fungus is the organism’s fruiting body. With their weird and wonderful diversity, it is not surprising that macro fungi has a huge fan-base. And if we thought that the climate of Japan makes it a mycologist’s dream comes true, this little patch NSW south coast is a real competitor.

Is the photographed Coprinus plicatilis (with a fitting common name: Japanese umbrella or fairy parsol)? Looks like we should get ourselves a fungi field guide.