Dark thoughts

[Oops, this was supposed to go earlier, so the intro is now obsolete!]

With Halloween round the corner, my mind turned to dark and spooky things. So here, to mark the season, is a collection of black fungi to make a coven of witches salivate.

This 1″ tall black fungus is a type of cordyceps, Tolypocladium ophioglossoides.  (Thanks to Parker Veitch for the ID). When it is younger it is a yellowish brown, sometimes called golden thread, because below ground are yellow threads that attach to a type of deer truffle, and the cordyceps is parasitic on the truffle.

In close-up, you can see that the speckles are in fact spores being produced on the perithecia, which are minute flask-like vessels embedded in the fungus but protruding through its skin to release their spores.

In pursuit of this photo I lay on my stomach, and my glasses fell out of my pocket, never to be seen again. My most expensive-ever photo.

My favorite name amongst the black fungi is Poor Man’s Licorice, Bulgaria inquinans, not edible despite its name.

The smooth side is the fertile surface, and as it ages the rim curls up and in, creating a cup shape.

Another misleadingly appetizingly named mushroom is the Chocolate Milky, Lactarius lignyotus.

Wikipedia says it is “edible, but of little interest”, so despite its name it won’t show up in a Starbucks drink any time soon. “Milky” mushrooms are so-called because they exude a white latex when broken.

Finally, every witch’s favorite, Dead Man’s Fingers, Xylaria polymorpha.

One feels it could audition for the starring role in Pirates of the Caribbean, waving in the swell, deep on an ocean wreck, alongside Johnny Depp.

Lest you be left thinking that there’s no such thing as a safe and delicious black mushroom, let me assure you that one of the best of all is the Black Trumpet.

But, as always, never ever pick and eat a mushroom unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing.