mycolocat

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A slime mold, Arcyria ferruginea, grows on dead wood in Hertfordshire, UK. Despite their common name, slime molds are not fungal, and are in fact an amoeba-like organism that clumps together in large structures.

by Will Atkins

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(かんざし•小物 小梅屋さんのツイート: “にょきにょき。… ”から)

かんざし•小物 小梅屋 web site | instagram

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Lichen growing on only the black paint of a speed limit sign.

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I wanna 3D print this and get a Jerry sample and see if it can solve this one

SOBBING

ok so someone in a server im in sent this maze and told another friend to solve it, and i said i'd solve it my plan was simple, i was just going to use the bucket tool to fill in at least the main path from the start to the end.. there was an issue though

the image wasnt very high res so this anti aliasing made the bucket tool not play nicely. i figured i'd just use a levels adjustment layer to bump up the contrast and that worked well!

and so I covered the start and end with red, then used the bucket tool to fill in the rest. ..the maze had no disconnected parts, and my levels adjustment made the seal and ball at the top and bottom become uhh..

FUCKING. EVIL MAZE. JUMPSCARE

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Cerioporus squamosus (dryad's saddle, pheasant back)

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*walks up to a couple* so which one of you is the fungus and which one is the algae

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Hydnellum Peckii (also known as Strawberries and Cream, Devil’s Tooth, Bleeding Tooth Fungus), photographed by Kevin Moldenhauer

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Elf cups

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Spore print of Amanita Muscarius. Our edible toadstools and mushrooms and how to distinguish them. 1895.

Internet Archive

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Turkey tails

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met these guys this morning

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Sheathed Woodtuft Kuehneromyces mutabilis

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Compared to other colors found in nature, true blues are pretty rare—but the indigo milk cap (Lactarius indigo) has just that! This vibrant mushroom gets its color from a pigment that is a derivative of guaiazulene, a dark blue crystalline hydrocarbon. You would think that its blueness is a marker for toxicity, but the mushroom is actually edible—although its color fades to a grayish hue when it’s cooked.

Photo: Andrey Loria, CC BY-SA 4.0, iNaturalist

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Still thinking about how the dominant conception of mushroom-hunting in my (USAmerican) culture is fear and revulsion and the idea that anyone who eats a mushroom they found in the woods is courting a terrible death. And I don't want to push back too aggressively; it's better that people think the hobby is too dangerous to bother with rather than having people who are so blasé about the dangers that they end up poisoning themselves. But it still gets a little annoying sometimes. So, for the record, some more nuanced information:

There are a small number of mushrooms that will kill you if you eat them. Most field guides make sure to describe these species carefully so you know what to avoid.

There are a rather larger number of mushrooms that will make you sick but not kill you. Many of these are also noted in field guides, especially if they look at all like any of the edible species.

Many choice edibles are very visually distinct and don't have any non-edible lookalikes. Many foragers stick with these safe choices permanently. (I do this!)

Some edible mushrooms *do* have poisonous lookalikes. Individual foragers can decide how confident they are in their identification skills and what level of risk they're comfortable with accepting.

You need to learn how to use a field guide if you want to gather mushrooms for the table. For most people, this is not a difficult skill to develop, although it takes practice.

You need to learn how to see what is actually in front of you instead of what you want to see. Many misidentifications come from people ignoring obvious field marks out of wishful thinking.

You need to learn about what grows in your region, and if you move, stop foraging until you've had a chance to research the new region. Sadly, many mushroom poisoning cases are recent immigrants who mistook a toxic mushroom for an edible variety from their home country.

It is extremely possible to forage safely. It is also very possible to forage recklessly. You need to be aware of your own skills and temperament to decide whether it's a hobby that will work for you.

If you want to learn more about mushrooms (both poisonous and edible varieties), I highly recommend the book Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares by Greg Marley.

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Amanita poisoning is vicious. A few hours after ingestion, you have some tummy troubles, vomiting, the usual food poisoning symptoms. It seems to get better, so you might not go to the doctor. All the while, the toxins[1] are slowly and silently destroying your body from the inside.

A few days, maybe a week or two later (depending on what exactly you ate), you start feeling bad again. Like, real bad. Turning yellow, getting delirious, exploding from both ends plus ends you didn't even know you had. By this point, you're already dead[3]. Your liver is basically gone, your kidneys are fucked beyond belief, and everything else is hanging on by a thread.

[1] The problem is mostly amatoxins, but these aren't the only toxin in deadly amanitas; depending on species, you can also get a delightful cocktail of phallotoxins[2] and other assorted mycotoxins.

[2] yes this means dick toxin. it's named due to its presence in mushrooms named after dicks, due to their turgid appearance.

[3] It's technically possible that you'll live, but only if you get several extreme medical interventions immediately, and are very VERY lucky; even then, your quality and quantity of life will be irrevocably damaged.

Don't eat random mushrooms.

For those not in the know, this is one of the Amanita mushrooms referred to as a Destroying Angel. Never, ever, ever, ever forage with an app. Especially for mushrooms.

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Honestly bizarre that tomatoes get all the flack for “not being a vegetable” because they're technically a fruit when:

A) There are a ton of fruits that get categorised as vegetables. Like this also applies to pumpkins, squashes and cucumbers.

B) The fucking mushrooms are standing there at the back of the crowd in this witch trial, trying to look inconspicuous because they somehow got into the vegetable club with no fucking controversy despite the fact that they're not even plants.

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Rot! Rot! Rot! (gouache) Old wood and fungi, wonderful things to paint. This will be my postcard print for March. Join my postcard club on Patreon if you'd like this mini print in the mail - link in my pinned post!!