Saturday, 8:30 AM. 43 degrees, wind SW, light. The channel is slightly wrinkled, the sky partly cloudy with high, fast-moving clouds. The barometer predicts sunny skies, and we got .2” of rain yesterday.
Mushrooms are amazing things. This Amanita muscari, the fly Amanita, is the size of a dinner plate, and popped up since yesterday morning on the corner of Tenth and Wilson. The fruiting body grows out of miles of threads of living tissue in the soil below it. It is a gill mushroom, and has a distinct ring under the cap, and if dug up the stem has an obvious bulbous base. In the eastern US it tends to be orange, and in the west red, both colors flecked with white. They usually grow under pines and birches. It is called the fly Amanita because in Europe it has been used to poison houseflies, by peeling the skin from the mushroom and placing it in a saucer of water. This attracts and kills flies (I may try this idea). There are about 120 species of Amanita in North America, and some are the most deadly of mushrooms, killing many people, particularly in Europe (where many of the same mushrooms grow) every year. I have read of several people in this country killed by mushrooms (probably Amanitas) already this fall.
Have to go to the recycle center this morning. The colors are stupendous. Mushrooms aren't poisonous to the touch, but don't get too friendly with them.
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