A mess of Hare’s-foot fungi

14 Tuesday Nov 2023

Tags

British fungi, Coprinopsis lagopus, fungi in leaf litter, Hare's-foot, Hare's-foot inkcap, inkcaps, leaf litter

When I take photos of fungi, I often try to tidy up the scene a little first, plucking away stray twigs or flattening with my shoe the grass that’s obscuring the view of the actual fungi. In this particular situation, that was not possible, partly because I couldn’t get any closer to the fungi (which were on private land) and partly because, even if I could’ve moved closer, there was simply too much vegetation to remove without damaging their fragile forms. So, I decided to present these Hare’s-foot inkcaps (Coprinopsis lagopus) as they really were, small and elegant black-and-white parasols partially obscured amidst a colourful mess of small branches and leaf litter. A very autumnal scene.

Lawyer’s wig

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, fungi, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

autumn fungi, confusing fungi, Coprinopsis lagopus, Coprinus comatus, fungus, Hare's-foot inkcap, inkcaps, Lawyer's wig, Shaggy inkcap

I think you can see how this shaggy little fungus got one of its common names, Lawyer’s wig, as it so well resembles the wigs lawyers wear in court. This is Coprinus comatus, also, not surprisingly, known as the Shaggy inkcap. Coprinus means ‘living on dung’ but this fungus really just prefers very rich soil with lots of decaying plant matter. These are usually found in groups of up to 20 individuals, and I found this little group of five along the edge of a woodland path, a fairly typical habitat.

180919 Shaggy inkcap (1)

Edit: My fungi friend Graham very kindly pointed out that I had mis-identified my initial find but, luckily, I saw some real Shaggy inkcaps today, so I have changed the photos above to show those.

The confusion species, which my initial photos (below) showed, was actually the Hare’s-foot inkcap (Coprinopsis lagopus). Perhaps you can see why I was confused by all that shagginess!