I Did Some Museum Sketches Yesterday To Practice Drawing Clothing Folds!

Funguary Day 1: Veiled Lady

This mushroom has an intense stink that attracts insects and gives the mushroom its several other names, including “basket stinkhorn”, “longnet stinkhorn”, and “crinoline stinkhorn”. The insects attracted to the smell help spread the spores of the mushroom after coming into contact with it.

I've also made an art piece for this day you can see here!

Funguary Day 22: Oyster Mushroom

While most fungi get their nutrients through decomposing organic matter or through symbiotic relationships with plants, some, like oyster mushrooms, are carnivorous. These carnivorous fungi are known as “nematophagous”, given their ability to hunt and eat nematode worms. Most nematode-eating fungi only resort to hunting when there is insufficient food to eat. There are several methods these fungi will use to catch the nematode worms. The oyster mushroom in particular grows a hyphal stalk with a single toxic droplet on the end that paralyzes the worms, giving the oyster mushroom enough time to grow through the mouth of the worm and digest it from inside. 

Other similar fungi grow adhesive nets or branches to which the nematodes stick or create a noose that inflates within a tenth of a second when touched. Yet another way some nematode-hunting fungi will catch prey is by releasing spores that can swim through the soil, then bind to the nematode worms. Once attached, they sprout, and the fungus harpoons the nematode with specialized hyphae known as “gun cells”.

See the rest of my posts for funguary here!

I feel very mushroom biased some of these funguary posts I have spent hours compiling research and formatting it nicely, I've even used paper sources and cited studies on a some of them, then for some like the Crepidotus I can't find anything interesting, spend five minutes on it, and give up.

I'm sorry T-T

I promise I'm trying my best, some of these fungi are just basic

Not oyster mushroom though, love that one <3

WAIT STOP YOUR BLOG IS SO CUTE I LOVE IT

Aaaaaa ty!!!!!!

Funguary Day 28: Caesar's Mushroom

The Caesar's mushroom is one of the very few fungi of the Amanita genus. It is close relatives with fungi such as the death cap (see that post here), however it is edible and reportedly delicious. That doesn’t stop it from having many poisonous look-alikes, as every year there are poisonings of people who thought they were eating Caesar's mushroom but were rather eating a poisonous species. 

One of the most famous poisonings involving this mushroom took place in ancient Rome. emperor Claudius had ascended to the throne after the assassination of his nephew. He had many wives in his life but finally married his fourth wife Agrippina. Agrippina had a son, Nero, whom she had big plans for. She persuaded Claudius to adopt Nero, putting him in line for the throne, but she was not a patient woman. You can see where this is going. She decided to speed up the time it would take for her son to take the throne by feeding Claudius his favorite meal, the Caesars mushroom, laced with extracts from the death cap fungi. When the symptoms set in the next day a co-conspirator doctor administered a toxin from a plant called the bitter apple, finishing him off. Nero became the emperor, and the rest was history. 

And that is funguary officially finished! One post per day on mycology for 28 days! Started preparing back in January, still finished the research for this post last night. Regardless, I loved it so much, and more importantly, now I have EVEN MORE mushroom facts to force upon my poor unassuming friends. If you're interested in seeing the rest of my posts for funguary you can find them all here!

And from now on, I will have a mushroom post every Saturday so if you're interested in that keep an eye out for it :)

Thanks for listening to my rambles!

Funguary Day 3: Spotted Cort

This is a lovely mushroom, and also a perfect example of mycorrhizal fungi!

The mushroom’s mycelium surrounds the roots of the tree and helps the tree to absorb water and nutrients. In exchange, the mushroom is provided with food and amino acids produced by the tree.

See the rest of my posts for Funguary here!

Found these neat mushrooms, not sure what they are but I can't wait to eat them!

Not flowers :D

These flowers are not flowers, but rather a parasitic fungi's "pseudo flowers" it uses to spread its spores

The fungi infects the plant and siphons off its nutrients. In order to reproduce the fungi sterilizes the host plant, preventing it from making its own flowers.

It then forces the plant to grow yellow "pseudo flowers" that contain the fungi's spores. These spores are collected by pollinators same as the plant's own pollen would be and transferred from plant to plant, spreading the infection.

Funguary Day 26: Indigo Milkcap

Indigo Milkcap, or Lactarius indigo, is an edible fungi that bleeds a blue latex milk like substance when cut. This “milk” turns green when exposed to air, and is reported to have a mild taste similar to that of the fungi itself. 

See the rest of my posts for funguary here!