Thursday, September 15, 2011

More Mushroomy Macros






It has been quite dry of late and, unfortunately, that means not many mushrooms about. I do understand that not all of my readers are fungi-philes, but I am. Ticks are the other problem I have had lately. It is impossible to go out into the woods without bringing in passengers. But we had some rain yesterday, and the days are shorter so the ticks are less of a problem. I'm looking forward to a wonderful autumn!

This particular mushroom I photographed a while ago at Land Between the Lakes.
It was growing right in the road.

At first I thought it was a rusty piece of metal.


Then I thought it was a puffball.


It is neither.
I strongly suspect it is a Pisolithus tinctorius, also known as
the dyemaker's puffball.


It is not a true puffball, merely a mushroom with a thin outer "skin" that disintegrates upon maturity.

When immature it can be used to dye wool.
Once I got home and looked it up I wished I had taken more pictures of it or even collected it.
Maybe I'll find one again sometime.

Have a super weekend!

Don't forget to
stop by
blogging from bolivia
to link up your own Macro Friday post!

-Susan

4 comments:

  1. That is certainly unique. How incredible to stumble upon that. I am glad you could capture it.

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  2. I have never seen anything like this. Crazy cool!

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  3. Thanks! I'm glad there are folk who appreciate my kind of weird!

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