fungifanatics

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These mushrooms change color! This color change happens due to the enzymatic oxidation of variegatic acid and xerocomic acid. which are found in varying concentrations among the many different types of bolete mushrooms. (Source)

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. Bonus Set 7 of 6 (my bad). Last of the images in this photo set, adored every single fungi that's been shown in such gorgeous ways! Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 6 of 6. Still not got info on these yet. Also I lied it's a seven image set not six, I can't count clearly. So look out for another gorgeous bonus two images by Steve Axford. Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 5 of 6. I love how ghost-like these ones are, there’s something weirdly angelic or ghost-like about them. I hope I find out what these are, these shouldn’t be too hard to identify hopefully. Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 4 of 6. Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 3 of 6. Still have to admit I have no idea what a lot of these are in this photo set and so will be browsing through books to see what I can find and do a master post if I ever find out. Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 2 of 6. Again I unfortunately have to admit I have no idea what a lot of these are in this photo set and so will be browsing through books to see what I can find. I believe image one are in the Sarcoscyphaceae family but could be wrong. Back to the books I guess. Please visit his website steveaxford.smugmug.com to see more of his work.

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Hericium coralloides, also known as the Coral Tooth Fungus is a gorgeous fruiting body. It grows on dead hardwood trees. When young, the fungus is soft and edible, but as it ages the branches and hanging spines become brittle. The Māori name for this species is pekepekekiore.

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Stunning Fungi Photoset by Steve Axford. 1 of 6.

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We complied this image to tumblr as we've had a few questions about which mushrooms go nicely with what so every now and then we will post a mushroom recipe! We thought this was a neat little chart to get you started. Remember when foraging for mushrooms do not eat them unless you are 100% sure it is edible. Source: SheKnows.com

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Aseroe rubra, commonly known as the anemone stinkhorn, sea anemone fungus and starfish fungus, is a common and widespread basidiomycete fungus recognizable for its foul odour of carrion and its sea anemone shape when mature. It produces its spores in a nasty-smelling slime that attracts flies and other insects, which crawl around in the slime, picking up the spores on their feet and dispersing them on whatever the flies land on. Gross, but pretty cool stuff! It's not edible in any way shape or form. Images sourced on Google and credited to: Dave Roberts and Forest-Imp

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Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a psilocybin or “magic mushroom" that contains the psychoactive compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. They ar the most common type of ‘magic mushroom’ in the UK. It is important to know that different types of ‘magic mushroom’ will differ in how strong and how toxic they are. For example, the amanita muscaria or ‘fly agaric’ mushroom is stronger than the traditional ‘liberty cap’ mushroom and eating this raw could kill you. It’ll definitely make you vomit like mad. People don’t tend to eat fly agaric mushrooms raw as they can make you feel really sick and also because there is a greater risk of poisoning and death from this family of mushrooms unlike the Liberty Caps. After picking, Liberty Caps are often eaten raw or are dried out and stored. Some people use the dried mushrooms to make tea. Drying reduces the weight of the fungi but not their potency. Here are the main effects of eating Liberty Caps: Colours, sounds and objects appear distorted. Your sense of time and movement can speed up – or slow down. You may feel disoriented, tired or sick – and some users can get stomach pains or diarrhoea. You may hallucinations good or bad things. You may hurt yourself and not realise to the extent of the injury.

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Agaricus bisporus commonly known as Button Mushrooms are an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Europe and North America. They are commonly farmed in their thousands like in the two last photos.

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Cantharellus cibarius are commonly known as the chanterelle, or girolle, is a super tasty fungus. It is probably the best known species of the genus Cantharellus, if not the entire family of Cantharellaceae. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped and deliciously edible!

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Fantastic fungi I've found

Over the course of the last few months I’ve been quietly snapping away at the various fungi I’ve encountered in West Lothian and the Lomond Hills of Fife.

I’ll readily admit now that I’m not a fungi person by any stretch of the imagination.  I do find them utterly fascinating and will snap hundreds of photos of them, but I find identifying them difficult.

This isn’t surprising, for there are believed to be around 12,000 known species of fungi in Scotland.  And identifying them can be even more problematic because the ones that we can see above ground change appearance at different stages of their lives.

It’s entirely possible to find two fungi in different places that look completely different, only to find they’re the same species at different points in their life cycle.  As the dome-shaped caps open up into parasols, it’s easy to get confused.  And I do.  Regularly.

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