Fungi Friday 🍄

Header image by David Oldham

As the only person that many of my friends and family know to be a fungi enthusiast (synonyms include ‘expert’ or ‘fun guy”), I am pleased to receive fungi photos on WhatsApp.

Sharing photos between friends and family like this is an important social and nature connection interaction, I think, which AI-based software like iNaturalist will hopefully not need to replace or impinge upon.

One friend who trolls me with jackdaw photos sent over a lovely image of what I think is a brittlestem fungus. He then proceeded to ask me to ID it.

This group of mushrooms terrifies me – it is part of a vast family – Psathyrellaceae – which also includes some typical inkcaps (Coprinellus). Many of these species can only be identified via more detailed methods, not just photos. Drat.

That said, one of their key features is a brittle stem, so testing that ‘weakness’ can be one way to get you on the way to at least understanding who are its relatives.

Thanks for reading.