Fungi Friday 🍄

West Sussex, November 2023

One of the most iconic mushroom experiences is surely encountering a fairy-ring. In late-November I found one in a little cemetery I visit each autumn to check for fungi.

While the ring is not entire, it is a pretty solid effort from fairy-ring champignon, a member of the parachute family. I am 90% sure of the ID and always welcome feedback.

Parachutes (marasmius) are usually very small indeed and growing in leaf litter on the woodland floor. Not so the fairy-ring champignon.

They are instead a grassland species of old commons and indeed churchyards. All in all, they need stability and not to be ploughed up.

Their edibility is unknown to me and I’m not looking to eat mushrooms from graves.

The gills are beautiful, quite mesmeric.

Thanks for reading.