Althouse: Some very large, freakishly cartoonish mushrooms have been popping up around town.

August 30, 2016

Some very large, freakishly cartoonish mushrooms have been popping up around town.

30 comments:

Paddy O said...: Fairies. No doubt about it.; 8/30/16, 3:07 PM
traditionalguy said...: Fungus among us.; 8/30/16, 3:16 PM
Rob said...: That's a clown mushroom bro.; 8/30/16, 3:20 PM
Peter said...: Giant puffballs?; 8/30/16, 3:22 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: What do they taste like?; 8/30/16, 3:23 PM
Rusty said...: Member of the Amanita family?; 8/30/16, 3:28 PM
Paul said...: They look like Amanita Muscaria. If so they are mildly toxic but hallucinogenic.; 8/30/16, 3:31 PM
n said...: Why does Anthony Weiner pop up in my mind?; 8/30/16, 3:38 PM
n said...: Answer: Moral decay and high humidity.; 8/30/16, 3:40 PM
David said...: Here. Take it bite. It won't hurt you.; 8/30/16, 3:46 PM
David said...: Moral decay and high humidity.

That's "Morel" decay.; 8/30/16, 3:47 PM
Jake said...: It's hard to tell if they're indeed "freakishly huge" since there's nothing in the pictures providing any perspective.; 8/30/16, 4:00 PM
Jake said...: Forgive me. You said "very large" and "freakishly cartoonish." They still don't look all that large.; 8/30/16, 4:01 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The largest one is about 6" in diameter.; 8/30/16, 4:07 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: A patch of those in my lawn surprised me today. I was impressed, the dog was not.; 8/30/16, 4:25 PM
MadisonMan said...: Yes, I've seen those. I've meant to send pictures to the onthegroundinmadison tumblr, but never have.; 8/30/16, 4:29 PM
Fernandinande said...: We used to find something that looked liked those in the CO mountains, sometimes over a foot across and red.

A big mushroom; 8/30/16, 4:58 PM
Fernandinande said...: Fernandinande said...A big mushroom
That's NOT from CO.; 8/30/16, 5:01 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Same thing down in Texas. There is a huge mushroom bed in the lawn outside the apartment I am leasing.; 8/30/16, 6:06 PM
William said...: It is said that freaky mushrooms grow where the Mad Clown Killer buries the bodies of the children he has killed. Probably just a foolish superstition.; 8/30/16, 6:31 PM
ndspinelli said...: A Polish woman who lived next door to us when I was a kid would take me out mushroom hunting. This has been a great summer for mushrooms. This woman taught me how to tell the edible from the poisonous ones. Like fresh picked corn tomatoes, etc., freshly picked mushrooms are much better than store bought.; 8/30/16, 6:35 PM
PB said...: Was one of the little ones hiding in Anthony Weiner's underpants?; 8/30/16, 7:29 PM
rhhardin said...: Toads lick them for a high.; 8/30/16, 7:56 PM
madAsHell said...: Trump, the magnificent bastard is playing about 30 miles north of Seattle in Everett.; 8/30/16, 9:51 PM
Alex said...: and I lick the toads for an even bigger high.; 8/30/16, 11:05 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: By the way, Hillary has started looking like a mushroom in recent years. I noticed it a couple of years ago.; 8/31/16, 4:41 AM
Rusty said...: Blogger Paul said...
They look like Amanita Muscaria. If so they are mildly toxic but hallucinogenic.

I don't think they are Muscaria, but another member of the Amanita familily. Not all of which are toxic. I only know of a handful of mushrooms that I can identify and safely eat. Morels, half morels chantrelles, hen of the woods. Even so it's good to look at the spoors under a microscope just to verify. For whatever reason these seem to like wood mulch.; 8/31/16, 6:02 AM
amr said...: These are not Amanitas, but one of maybe 3 species of parasols, two edible and one toxic.

They look like the edible "Parasol mushroom" Macrolepiota procera.
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/macrolepiota_procera.html

Another possibility is the edible "Shaggy Parasol" Chlorophyllum rhadoces.
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorophyllum_rhacodes.html

But they could be the toxic "False Parasol", "Green-spored Parasol", or "Green-spored Lepiota" Chlorophyllum molybdites. Those have popped up all over the Twin Cities in the last two weeks. They are the #1 cause of mushroom poisoning in the United States. To test for that species, take a spore print (put a cap on a piece of paper for a few hours, gills down; on older specimens, just look at the gills). If the spores are greenish, it's this one and throw it out.
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chlorophyllum_molybdites.html; 8/31/16, 11:53 AM
amr said...: P.S. Whichever species, these are not going to give anyone a high.; 8/31/16, 11:55 AM
Rusty said...: Thanks amr.
These are all over here too. Suburban Chicago area.; 8/31/16, 12:46 PM