The other day after some rain a lone Ink Cap Mushroom popped up in the backyard. It’s named such because the blackened mushrooms were boiled in water with cloves to produce ink in the early days. The mushroom has a white skin with tan coloring across its shaggy looking outer flesh. Just after it appears, the cap is still closed and has an oval shape like a closed umbrella.
As the oval grows and spreads out, the mushroom begins to form an umbrella-shaped cap. As the mushroom ages, the gills beneath the cap darken and become blackened with an inky coloring that actually begins to drip dark black fluid as it deteriorates. Unfortunately the lawnmower guys were there that day so by the evening the mushroom was gone and I couldn’t get a shot of it open.
Interesting looking mushroom that one, very different to the ones I cook * giggle *
Most shrooms that have a dark ink are poisonous.