Friday 30 November 2007

Fungus

I'm sitting in a living room. I'm waiting for a close friend to come home from work. I'm a tiny bit bored even thought there are plenty of entertaining things to do. I just popped out to look at the foul weather and decided I couldn't stand venturing out in such inclement of atmospheric conditions. I found this unusual fungus growing under one of the trees in the garden. Can any amateur mycologists, or any laypersons indeed, tell me what it is? I'm afraid it's not a very good photo as it was quite tricky to get a hold of on my own. See what you think and let me know.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah. Looks a bit like Solus capillus, or Arthur's Chair fungus. Interesting find. Where did you say it was?

lorenzothellama said...

I think it's an upside down bottom. Yours?
LtL

Sara said...

Exactly Lorenzo. Even as I type this comment I'm doing a great deal of interrogation and telling off. I go out for a couple of hours and this is the kind of thing I come back to.

lorenzothellama said...

Disgusting isn't it? I don't know why we continue to look at this site. How about turning the photo the right way up TR?
LtL

Thesaurus Rex said...

Lorro; What are you talking about. Now I've had a chance to look at some imaged properly, I've discovered it's a fly agaric. Having looked on the internet re some of it's more notorious qualities, I now believe that Llamas eat them for breakfast.

lorenzothellama said...

Llamas are very fussy about what they eat for breakfast I'll have you know.
Thankfully you have taken the photo of your bottom off the blogsite. This new toadstool is called pixiecapillus. It is one of the type that small folk use for their houses. Please be careful near it, you don't want to upset them. They can be extremely spiteful if roused.
Lorenzo.

Thesaurus Rex said...

Bottom? What kind of blogger do you think I am? I'm just interested in nature.

lorenzothellama said...

Nature in the raw?
LtL

Thesaurus Rex said...

I never rouse the pixies unless I'm ready to party with them. They do like a nice shindig. These toadstools grow at a very well known shopping destination in S.W. England. Quite a surprise, when you know what they are and what they can do, to see them happily thriving inside the childrens miniature train ride area. Oh how we laughed.

lorenzothellama said...

Pixies are ok, but just don't start messing with the elves.
L.

Sara said...

Or the thing that makes the funny noise in my bedroom at night.

lorenzothellama said...

You got one of those noisy things too Magdalene? It sends the cat and dog haywire.
Lorenzo.

Thesaurus Rex said...

That's what we should do. Get a cat to investigate the noise.
By the way, if anybody would like to tell me how they cross their arms re last posting on this blog, it'll help with my detailed reseach. So far only mer and Lorro have contributed and I can't see the university coughing up much dosh for that.
LtL; I've never messed with elves, they're much taller than me.

Soon there will be a quiz on this blog. Spread the word, I wanna feel like teacher at the end of term with all my marking to do.

lorenzothellama said...

Ooo I like a quiz as long as it's not about pop music or film stars.
Lorenzo.

lorenzothellama said...

p.s. Who are you asking about folding arms? Mags and I are the only people who visit your blog!
Lorenzo.

Sara said...

Tee hee, the benevolent Aunts.

By the way rex, you're beginning to sound alarmingly like our mad Californian friend.

Thesaurus Rex said...

Auntie Lorro; This is true. The rest of them are illiterate, scared or too clever to get sucked in. That's good for you as you won't have much competition. However, there are pop and film questions, so I suspect you'll have to fly your colours in the 'medievel agrarian history of the home counties' section.
Auntie Mags; Do you want choklit for x(christ)mas again. Uncle Weirdo says it makes you go all funny with glazed eyes.

lorenzothellama said...

Try Magdalene with Guarano TR. It certainly makes my eyes glazed.

Incidentally, I'm a Northern lass now, not a Home Counties chick.

Lorenzo.

Unknown said...

You went and changed the photo! And there I was having finally stopped coughing for long enough to comment and it's gone - I was going to ask if it was edible.

Re the arm crossing - I cross my arms right over left. I'm left-handed if that's got anything to do with it.

Ooh, ooh, a quiz! I must warn everyone that can get scarily competitive and am best avoided when there's a Trivial Pursuits board in the vicinity.

Sara said...

Yes please dear. One of those nice pretty selection boxes, as I have so much fun sucking the chocolate off the hard centres and popping them back in the box for later. *cackle*

Sara said...

Oh I just realised I sent this one twice by mistake because you've got the stupid owner approval thing switched on again. Switch the damn thing off you control freak! (Pleeeeeze)

Thesaurus Rex said...

Of course it's edible.
Yes, quiz not quite finished as it's always harder than you think to set a fair to everybody type of test. However, fairness isn't the main thing, fun and being a control freak are definitely the maun things.
Re arms, as I pointed out to Lorro, does your description mean left hand on right bicep, right hand under left armpit? I'm hoping to gather enough evidence to see a correlation between styles and l/r handedness.

Sara said...

For pity's sake! OCD or what?

Unknown said...

Why on earth you so interested I have no idea, but, my left arm goes under the right one, left hand on right bicep and right hand under left bicep - go figure that one out.

Oh, and I've just seen your quiz and am not feeling quite so competitive any more. Maybe after a few beers it'll seem more do-able. Why are quiz masters always obssessbed by UK PMs and US Presidents anyway? (And never Spanish history, sniff.) If we had to put them in order of worst impact on the world and explain why, now that would be more fun.

Metamatician said...

It looks rather like an Amanita muscaria which I believe does grow in England, I know it does here. It's also called fly agaric. Don't eat it, it will kill you.

The end.

Metamatician said...

D'oh... you already guessed it was fly agaric. See what I get for not reading all the previous comments. Although it COULD be a middle-aged man's bum, turned on it's head so to speak... now that I have a better look... By God Rex, what have you been washing with? You've got bloody great pustules all over your chocolate flappers, you must get a trusted person like a close girlfriend from the SW of you to pop and drain all of those immediately.

On second thought, no, not really. I've changed everybody's minds except my own which is lost at the moment and exhumed, resucitated, and nursed to health the fungi theory once again. I do believe it is the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_muscaria

Oh, and don't eat a lot of them, they might kill you. Not the mushrooms, the flies that grow and tend to them. They don't take well to thievery.

Carry on about body parts then.

Metamatician said...

"Trivial Pursuits" ... is that the game from the 80s Rex or your autobiography, I always get them confused.

Metamatician said...

BTW
I'm right-handed and cross my arms left over right. Right hand atop left bicep, left hand under right bicep. Middle hand on me dangly bit.

Sara said...

He's only doing this to prove that I'm really the Weirdo and cross my arms all wrong. See how bored he gets?