Five Freaky Fungi
Five examples of freaky fungus.
Bleeding Tooth Fungus – (Hydnellum peckii)
Bleeding tooth is an inedible salmon pink fungus – often found under conifers. The spongy body exudes droplets of red fluid which contains a mushroom pigment called atromentin which has anticoagulant properties
Bioluminescent Mushrooms – (Mycena asterina)
Some mushrooms emit light 24 hours per day – the luminescence is only visible at night. Around 65 separate varieties of mushrooms are known to be “glow in the dark” – however scientists are puzzled as to why they have developed this ability – what advantage it may offer to a species.
Stinkhorn Mushroom – (Phallales)
The photographs are of a stinkhorn and a netted stinkhorn. As their name suggests, this variety is known for the foul smelling sticky spores on the tip. The “dung” smell attracts flies and other insects which then spread the spores.
Giant Puffball – (Calvatia gigantean)
The giant puffball can grow up to 70cm diameter – they are edible and supposedly very tasty (whilst the flesh inside remains white) the inside of a mature puffball is a brown/green colour.
Coral Tooth Fungus – (Clavaria)
This fungus is often found in very old and mature forests, only some varieties of this species are edible, but only when the plant is young and spongy – as it gets older, the flesh turns woody and fibrous – but reports are that the fungus has strong laxative effects.
REMEMBER – Never eat a mushroom or fungus if you are unsure of its variety….Recite this old adage
There are old mycologists
There are Bold Mycologists
But there are no old bold mycologists
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5 Responses to “Five Freaky Fungi”
On May 31, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I loved the information…and the pictures were great! The Bleeding Tooth fungi seems beautiful but very strange-looking…and looks to be a little messy if picked up!
I remember playing with puffballs as a kid…we were always on the lookout for the brown ones because these would emit a cloud of greenish ’smoke’ when squeezed.
You did a really nice job here…very enjoyable!
On June 1, 2009 at 11:56 am
I like the adage and the Bleeding Tooth, nice to look at and I was previouslt unaware of such a fungus o_0
It got stretched again… I constantly have to scroll over to read the text at the ends of lines.
On June 8, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Wow some weird looking stuff. I know I’m a fun guy but I’m not in these guy’s league.
On June 11, 2009 at 11:14 am
very weird looking…but well packaged together for a perfect eerie impact.
good knowledge , never knew these species existed.
On November 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm
The photo of the Coral Tooth Fungus is my photograph. I took this photograph on Sunday November 27, 2005 at 5:28 PM at Washington Oaks State Gardens in Flagler County, Florida.
This photograph was copyrighted. You should have asked permission to print this photograph or at least give me credit for the photo.
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