The Fungus Among Us
Created | Updated Oct 13, 2019
The Fungus Among Us
This is a special report from Factoid Fred, Suzie Q Ferguson's better-informed cousin. Suzie Q is a terrible tour guide. Fred is more instructive: he specialises in random drive-by factoid delivery. Links are provided for actual information.
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Fred writes:
The first picture is a staghorn fungus. I have no idea what the one after is called.
After that is a Rusella, which I have probably spelled wrong and can be pink or green. Next is a bracket fungus.
After that Amanita muscaria also known as fly agaric. The white patches are remnants of the cap that used to cover it. The berserker Vikings used to drink diluted reindeer urine, after they had eaten these. The Angel of Death version of this species is all white but if you eat it, it is all wrong for you.
The last picture is of something like a Jew's-ear fungus1, but that is usually pink.
You probably have an entry on this already, but it is autumn.
1Linnaeus called it Tremella auricula because it looked like an ear. According to Abby Sher at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 'Jew's Ear' isn't an antisemitic slur. The fungus is shaped like an ear and often found on elder trees. Traditionally, Judas Iscariot hanged himself on an elder tree. So it was 'Judas' ear' and got shortened. This drive-by factoid cluster brought to you by the Post Editor, who invites the Google generation to try and teach its grandfathers to suck eggs.
