How can you resist checking out a mushroom called Coprinipus lagopus? That's just fun to say. And they are such an interesting mushroom, too!
It's the Haresfoot Inky Cap! This is one of the fastest mushrooms, that I know of, to go through its whole above-ground process. From pushing up, out of the earth, all furry and fragile. To opening its umbrella-like cap, complete with spokes. And then liquifying into a black, gooey ink that soaks back into the earth. All within two days!
A Fast-Growing Mushroom!
I made a post last year about the Haresfoot Inky Cap and how it can grow so fast. In this post, I want to focus on the older mushrooms.
How fast does a Haresfoot Inky Cap grow? Compare these two shots of an emerging mushroom with the green seedlings right next to it. Those tiny sprouts are getting nourishment from their seed. They don't have much to work with. But the fast-growing fungal fruit is getting its resources from a large network of mycelium - the underground body of the fungus.
Ick!
When they get older, the Haresfoot Inky Cap can look pretty ragged and decayed. It's not really rotting. It's auto-digesting. The mushrooms put out an enzyme that breaks down the cell walls of the mushroom. With the Coprinipus lagopus, it's only the mushroom cap that is dissolving itself into goo. The stems keep on standing for awhile.
Haresfoot Inky Cap mushrooms can look pretty rotten and disgusting, sometimes within hours after they emerge from the earth.
They look like a mess, no matter what angle of view!
This is the same patch of mushrooms, just a few hours later. They are falling apart fast!
But They Are Fascinating
I think the little Coprinipus lagopus can be beautiful, too!
This little mushroom has just started changing from the rabbit's-foot shape to the mature cap. It's already lost all its fuzzy scales and is opening into a mushroom cap. It looks like a parasol, complete with spokes!
For years, I have watched these little mushrooms pop up from woodchip piles. When it's raining, their caps often split, like these. Now they look like macabre umbrellas. But wait until you see the next ones!
Spreading Spores on Rainy Days
This little patch of Coprinipus lagopus came up right around Halloween -- how appropriate! They look positively spooky!
You can see how the mushroom cap starts liquefying from the edge toward the middle. That's the same path as how the spores mature under the cap, too -- from the outer edge to the middle.
You can see how the spores are not everywhere under the cap -- just on the black lines. It's the spores that get black as they mature. By dissolving, the mushroom cap gets out of the way of the spores, so the spores can spread far and wide.
From this perspective, I think these Haresfoot Inky Caps look majestic and strong. They are doing their job of releasing spores in a fine fashion!
Spreading Spores on Dry Days
But when the air is more dry, the caps of the Coprinipus lagopus look different. It's more typical for their caps to curl up at the edges.
They don't seem to auto-digest as quickly, either.
You can see how the spores can get spread about by the breezes this way, as the edges keep curling up to release the mature spores to the air currents.
What Do You Think?
Getting to know mushrooms is a great way to slow down and appreciate the complexity of nature. There is a lot going on out there! I hope you have enjoyed getting to know the little Haresfoot Inky Cap, Coprinipus lagopus. If you want to know more about this fungus, you can check out my earlier post about them, too.
- Have you ever seen this kind of mushroom?
- Have you ever seen other mushrooms turning to black goo?
- What's your favorite mushroom?
I really do want to know!
Plant List
- Haresfoot Inky Cap (Coprinipus lagopus)
References:
Aurora, D., 1986. Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press. Berkeley, CA.
Cornell Mushroom Blog. The Dish on Deliquescence in Coprinus Species
Haphazard Homestead
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Wow that last photo is soooo cool!
I found some similar ones (not exactly those though I think) few weeks ago. When they get old they almost like like they are covered in tar :P
I don't get to see ones like that last photo very often. Because it's usually pretty wet when they are out, doing their thing. So their caps split instead. It is like tar. Folks have used that for ink, back in the old days. Inky Cap ink. Did you post any photos of the ones you found? I'd like to see those!
I will post some tomorrow :D
Yay! :D I'll keep an eye out for @fungi-friday!
Posted! Bit late, but I managed still for friday. It is not the same. At first I thought it was...
I'll have to go look. I put up a #fungifriday post, but I think I used the wrong tag. I'll have to check. It's a post that has a lot of mushrooms in it, but there are other things, too. It's probably better to put just mushrooms in the #fungifriday post, right? Let me know and I'll adjust. Have fun with your fungi photos! :D
You sure know about mushrooms, for me they're all... mushrooms haa! Like that one, it looks like a flower.
I see a lot of this kind every autumn and winter, right in my yard. And they go through such a transformation, so fast, too. So I had to figure out what they were and find out more about them. I think way too much about mushrooms sometimes, lol.
Its very weird to find muahrooms in my yard, even when it rains almost everyday. It seems this merciless sun dont let them grow and when they do grow they are very tiny and dont last more than a day
Your sun sounds so much more harsh. Here, the sun is behind the clouds most of the time, from September to June! And that's the way I like it! Maybe I am a mushroom, lol.
Amazing, living so shortly just to spread forth those spores.
I didn't think of it that way, but that is pretty amazing! All the changes that have to go on, within just a few hours, really. From the mycelium threads underground, to turning into a mushroom, to changing shape, to making the spores, and then dissolving to release the spores. Fungi are so strange!
Yes but is it more strange than a modern American teenager? Look at all the crazy and expensive rituals and gyrations they go through just to be cool and spread their "spores" so to speak. continuation of the species I suppose.
haha -- everything and everybody is trying to grow up so fast! ; )
Amazing mushroom with interesting information! I have never seen something like these! Nice photos. Great work! ;)
Thanks, @tangmo! There are so many different kinds of mushrooms! They always surprise me, when I look close!
You're welcome! Yes, these always surprise me, too! ;)
Thanks for this post! I truly enjoyed the information you shared.
Amazing mushrooms! Fast-growing indeed. The pictures show a lot and that last one is just so impressive!
I'm glad you enjoyed my little mushrooms, @offoodandart! I spent a lot of time on my belly, next to a pile of wood chips, lol. But I'm glad I did, because they disappear so fast. And I can see things from the photos that I didn't appreciate so much in the moment, like in that last photo.
Looking at that last photo again ... still so impressed. The beauty and blessings of nature!
I hope you can find some of these little Haresfoot Inky Caps around you, @offoodandart. I think you will recognize them when you see them. They like the woodchips and are mostly out in the autumn and winter.
I feel so proud, equipped with the knowledge! Thank you!
Very beautiful mushrooms that i have never seen before.
These mushrooms are really describing the beauty of nature.
Thank you so much for sharing the information about the Fastest mushrooms Haresfoot Inkycap.
Glad you enjoyed these little mushrooms! I hope you can see them yourself sometime. They grow in many parts of the world!
Wow what a wonderful post! I don't think I have ever seen them in our neck of the woods but then again we've only just started paying attention! How fascinating how they auto digest like that! Too cool! Thanks for the info!
There are a bunch of different auto-digesters, like Shaggy Manes and Inky Caps and Mica Caps. They are all so transient. There's no coming back later to take a photo -- best get on it right then and there! I hope you find some of these little Haresfoot Inky Caps. They like woodchip piles!
Wow! Incredible choice to write on it. It's a wonderful information that you have shared. They are a great source of protein.
Pictures are also very beautiful. My favorite is Haresfoot Inky Cap mushrooms. They look so good and soft.
Thank you for such an important sharing.
I do eat some other kinds of auto-digesting mushrooms. But I have never read or seen that these are for eating. Mostly, the literature about them says they are too small to bother with. But maybe you know something more about these mushrooms! That would be great if you have more information about them!
Although majority of the kinds of mushrooms are categorized as poisonous but there are some varieties which are suitable for eating. Some kinds are also used for medicinal purposes. In some rural areas of my country, Pakistan, people use it as nutritious diet sometime. I don't know exact names of that kinds but that they resemble like Inky Cap mushrooms.
Very interesting, @cheema1! That's one thing I like about Steemit -- getting to know what people find and eat from nature in different parts of the world. Some of that knowledge is so unique and local. I could learn a lot from the people in Pakistan that eat wild foods!
very healthy food mashroom thanks for shere @haphazard-hstead
I do not know these as food mushrooms. If you have more knowledge about this kind of mushroom, I am sure interested! :D
haha ok
Mushlove!
Thanks!