It seems that the majority of mushrooms that pop up around our neighborhood are False Parasols. There was a cluster of them growing in the strip of grass just down the way from our townhouse.
False Parasols go by the scientific name, Chlorophyllum molybdites. Though they seem to be the most common fungi in our immediate area, they do take many shapes and sizes. This makes them quite fun to photograph.
Zooming in to the larger cluster shows a couple different groupings of caps. False Parasols are also known as the Green-spored parasol, Green-spored lepiota, or Vomiter.
If you're looking for edible mushrooms, steer clear of False parasols! They cause a slew of undesirable effects on the human system and are quite toxic. Perhaps that's where they get the name Vomiter?
False parasols do come in all shapes and sizes. Below are some younger Vomiters. My son and I found some big ones which I'll show in just a moment.
Again and as I always disclose, I have my doubts to the accuracy of the Mushroom ID App I use. I doubt any of them are able to ID fungi with much success. It did get the False parasols ok, and it called out Pleated Inkcaps.
It tells me the shroom above isn't a Pleated inkcap but a White dunce cap. Aka the Milky conecap or White conecap, this fungi is small and delicate. It goes by the scientific name, Conocybe apala. They are another unedible, toxic form of fungi.
On Wednesday, I took a walk round the hood with my youngest son while he was on a break from homeschool. After we found many different patches of rather large False parasols, I joked with my boy.
I told him we could tell which townhouses had dogs by the patches of shrooms growing in the grass out front. It seems like a good indicator to me!
The False parasol above shows the top of the same one in the feature image. It's close to the size of three half dollars or a very large sand dollar. Here are a few more pics of other big specimen we found.
That's it for today. I'm not sure how many new species of fungi I'll be able to find around our neighborhood. That being the case, it's probably time to post again in some of our other incredible Communities! #AmazingNature here I come.
Thanks for reading and as always...
