Thursday 19 August 2010

Edible or Not


Always the choice for fungi hunters. Best to have a good guide book with you. While Magic Mushrooms are just beginning to appear in the grassland, the woods and edges of woods are already displaying varieties which well informed fungi lovers will be anxious to identify. No problems with the Shaggy Ink Caps (above) which start off all white as a well bleached lawyers wig, but then slowly become black. Best sliced in half and fried, but you have to get it early.

Around the bases of trees are the Boletes of various kinds, the Orange Birch Bolete, the Penny Bun and the Bay Bolete. It's rare to find one untouched by slugs who often show no desire to discriminate between those we find edible and those we leave alone.
There are also those from the Amanita family whence come the most deadly of all poisonous fungi; the Blusher and the Panther Cap are most frequently found about here, usually with caps decorated by concentric shreds of veil. Later will come the gaudy Fly Agaric which I've not seen here yet this year.

No comments: