Amanita bisporigera
Deadly mushrooms sprout from the mulch along a path at the Naples Botanical Garden.
Destroying Angels
fungus
Ephemeral Ghost Pipe
Monotropa uniflora
The illusive rows of ghostly flowers are actually a fungus feeding on fungi that’s feeding on tree roots. They’re epiparasites, or parasites sourcing nutrients from other parasites.
Monotropa unifloraHiawa
Eastern Native American tribes once used ghost pipe as an anticonvulsive and painkiller.
Barometer Earthstar
Astraeus hygrometricus
In the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, a chance encounter with this earthstar over a year ago required balance. Literally.
Astraeus hygrometricus
The High Shoals Creek Falls Trail was closed, but a fallen tree offered intrepid hikers views of the waterfall. A mud-caked log was the only route across the creek after a tree chopped the footbridge in half.
The curious alien spore sac rested on a rock next to the platform/overlook.
North Georgia Chanterelles
Click here for Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s vegan white wine garlic chanterelle recipe (which I’ll try after verifying they’re actually chanterelles).
Canary Clusterfungus
Pedagogy of the Plants 