Paddock perfection

Can you imagine anything more purely beautiful than this fungus? It had popped up in the the orchard paddock and was gleaming white at me across all the soggy green. There was another further up the hill.

Each was alone in its perfection, a setting befitting the creation.

It is Macrolepiota dolichaula, I discover, and am surprised it is ‘very common’ in eastern Australia. What a wonderful world where such beauty is common! My examples are about 150mm diameter across their snowily tufted tops, below which the dainty picot edges set the parasols off beautifully.

The central peak reminds me of a meringue, slightly crazing as it cooks to pinkish brown. My book reckons some people eat these regularly but others ‘suffer stomach upsets’. I think I’ll be content to feast on the sight alone.

6 thoughts on “Paddock perfection”

  1. Hi Donna,
    I drove through your area only a few weeks ago to see where the mines are planning to destroy next. Have my fingers crossed for the Capertee– a stunning area.

  2. I came across this very thing in our paddocks for the first time in the 10 years since we purchased our land in the Pristine Capertee Valley.
    I can only hope that as the Coal Mines expand, closest being Mt Airly that the Valley that is known as 10% of Australia’s Biodiversity remains just that!

  3. Well Denis, I went for a walk yesterday, Gaye having alerted me, but didn’t see anything new before it started to rain again. Did acquire a leech though!

  4. Hi Sharyn
    Our seasons (and Martin – of Bungendore) are all in synch. Earth Stars and puffballs and leeches.
    I agree with your description of the stunning beauty of the Macrolepiota. They stand up above the fresh green pasture grass. Very striking indeed.
    Cheers
    Denis

  5. Hi Gaye,
    Lucky you with some Earthstars! Will keep an eye out for fungi as I venture out amongst the leeches when this wild wind drops a little.

  6. Hi Sharyn,

    a beauty indeed! and common they are out where I used to live, popping up after rain on the grassy verges or paddocks. I can’t say that I’ve noticed them in town, though. Fungus season is upon us, and with your rainy climate, I hope you have plenty more to enjoy and share. It will be a while till I can do some serious fungus hunting, so I’ll have to be content with those around town. Actually, I’ve found far more species, and far more often, than I would have expected in my yard. Following the Christmas rain, I counted 7 species at one time in my yard, including a concentrated patch of Earthstars (Geastrum). What fun it is searching around for hidden treasures.

    Cheers,
    Gaye

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