Fairy rings of pale, slightly frilled fungi have grown in a dark part of my garden overhung with coleus plants. They formed a dense colony and looked quite magical. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a good photograph of them. However, their appearance prompted me to search for more of what I call ‘pop-ups’ – the little fungi that, encouraged by the warm, humid weather, pop up all over the lawns, in pot-plants and beneath shrubbery throughout the village.
I would need the help of a mycologist to identify the different species of fungus but am fairly sure that the lacy-cowled fungus collapsing over the mulch pile near PEEC, is a species of Phallus fungus. It is commonly known as a ‘stink-horn’ as it has an unpleasant smell of decaying flesh.
A small white toadstool on the Village Green had been tipped over, giving a good glimpse of the ‘gills’. On the lawn outside No 24, and again on the opposite side of the road, several clusters of pale ‘mushrooms;’ have popped up. They have the distinctive ‘mushroom brown’ gills and easily peeled skin that identifies an edible mushroom but I am not prepared to take the risk of sampling one.
A cluster of tiny orange coloured fungi is growing under the mint. I wonder if it could be a species of Hypholoma.
Over the next few weeks we should expect to see many more pop-ups erupting. Have fun finding them – many will be more spectacular than these early samples.
Another pop-up we all know and welcome with the early rains, is the dainty, pink flowered Rain Lily, (Zephyranthes species) which blooms in little clumps throughout Paluma.
Text and photos by Colwyn Campbell