After a couple of mornings with frost last week the weather hasn't been as cold over the last few days which has meant, after a not particularly good year so far, there are now lots of fungi to be seen. With not much of interest going on in the garden at Eco-Gites of Lenault, today for my gardening update I shall take you on a walk around our local paths on a fungal foray. You may need to put your glasses on though as some of the fungi are very small and I may not point out where they all are! Clicking on the pictures will make them bigger.
The first three are easy to see:
But now they are getting a lot smaller!
No more help now - can you spot the 2 fungi in the last 2 photos?
I love fungi. I love their apparently short life (when in fact the greater part of their life is lived underground and out of our sight). I love their importance in breaking down dead material and I love the fact that they can be either wonderfully good to eat or fatally poisonous. I am reminded of a book I read, parts of which I loved, parts of which I disliked intensely but which had, I think, one of the best final lines ever, making me eternally grateful that I struggled on to the end. A brief explanation. There are some fungi, that if eaten initially give you stomach pains but then you appear to recover. However at that point fatal damage has been wreaked on you and several days later you will die an excruciatingly painful death through major organ failure. This particular book (which shall remain anonymous in case you should chose to read it too) ends with the line:
"The murdered couple drove off down the road."
They had been fed fried mushrooms for breakfast! I like fungi but I also respect them and would only eat any that had guaranteed by an expert, which in France can be any pharmacist.
I hope you enjoyed my little wander into the world of fungi this week. For more gardening posts have a look at Annie's How Does Your Garden Grow linky over at Simple Wanderlust ... yup - she changed the blog name again!
Heh heh heh I feel like a woman of international mystery, name changing at will!
ReplyDeleteI too have a healthy respect of fungi. We live in an area where there are some rare types of edible fungi, and local restaurants and people go out in the the forest and pick them, some to use and some to sell on to shops in London.
I do LOVE the thought of going out with a one ring burner and picking fungi and frying them up with garlic, pouring them over a hunk of soda bread and yamming the lot up, but alas unless I have an expert with me, or someone who knows their fungi then it's a chance I'm not going to take.
Thanks for joining in again - hope your trip to market was fruitful!
I can supply the expert if you can make the bread!
DeleteI'd love to be able to identify fungi, but am v nervous about that as I don't want to murder myself (or anyone else for that matter!) so think I'll stick to buying them :)
ReplyDeleteYou can get a wonderful variety in French shops at this time of year!
DeleteSpotted them in the last 2 photos! Dont you just love how they can be so small and yet so dangerous. Fungi deserves so much respect. =) #hdygg
ReplyDeleteThey do indeed - but they can also be very tasty!
Deletei am loving fungi at the moment taking pictures of them they really are fascinating. I went mushroom hunting the other day and got my first haul of field mushrooms
ReplyDeleteYum :)
DeleteGreat post and nice to see such variety of fungi. We have a lot growing in our garden at the moment but I haven't tried to identify any of them yet. Such a good ending line for a book! Can you send me the name of it on Twitter? I'm intrigued!! :)
ReplyDeleteDone! Let me know if you read it.
DeleteFungi fascinates me but I have to admit at being very scared of it! There seems to be extra fungi around this year too!
ReplyDeleteThere were very few early on but now they are everywhere. Love them too!
DeleteI'd so like too to be accompanied by a fungi expert on a walk. I recently took my kids 'mushroom hunting' but told them look and don't touch - except they could stamp on puff balls!
ReplyDeletePuff balls are great for that, Apparently if all the spores from one giant puff ball grew to maturity they would outweigh the earth 8 times!
DeleteI do love looking at all the different fungi, they are always fascinating to look at x #HDYGG
ReplyDeleteSame here - there are so many colours once you really start looking closely.
DeleteThanks for sharing with #FungiFriday I love how knowledgeable you are about this subject! I love just finding them in the wild! You take it to another level.
ReplyDeleteI am far from knowledgeable - I have a good fungi book and lots of time to find them when walk the dogs - I don't think I managed to name any of the ones in this post.
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