Friday, October 30, 2020

Birmingham, AL: Mushrooms to Mush.rooms

 

 

Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.

I glanced out my kitchen window, which opens to the back yard.

Wa! What happened there?! 

Clutches of golden mushrooms seemed to have blossomed overnight. I walked out to investigate. 

Soft, golden mushrooms stood close together, like giggling girls on the playground during recess, talking deliciously about those cute boys over there. 

 

Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.

And "over there," squads of flat butterscotch boys with curled-up edges. 


Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.

A new friend identified them for me as honey mushrooms. "Them" being all of them, even though, to my untrained eyes, they looked like entirely distinct varieties due to their different colors, shapes, and sizes. 

But apparently the butterscotch boys are mature golden girls.

The above photos are from the first day I saw them. 

Oi. How things changed in just two days. 

Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
Maggots on honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.


From mushrooms to mush. Made so by the little white maggots? Or did someone go by and zap them with a fungicide?

Ewwww. 

Regardless of the cause, maybe this mushifying is karma, as apparently, honey mushrooms prey on tree roots, living or dead. 

 

Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
Honey mushrooms, Birmingham, Alabama. October 2020.
 

No comments: