Welcome autumn, welcome mushrooms

A selection of close-up photos of the first mushrooms of this fall.

This was the worst summer (meaning with lower max temperatures than usual) in around 3 decades throughout most of Europe. The last weeks have been very wet, yet fortunately not cold. There are still flowers around and trees are mostly green, but mushrooms fructifying everywhere indicate unequivocally that the fall is here. Here’s a selection of photos.

(*Update on submission, it just snowed above 1300 m!)

Please do comment if you recognize with certainty that any of these mushrooms are edible!

Well I think this first one is a very toxic one, right?

This one was giant, around 20 cm in diameter:

…while these were tiny:

Maybe these are edible?

Or perhaps these?

Getting to less classical shapes, we have these ones that look like orange ears:

…and here these orange trumpets:

Sometimes mushrooms grow in clusters:

These ones have some cool mechanics. They are swollen balls that contain spores inside. When you press them, for example if you step on them, they release clouds of spores. You can in fact see a whole punched in the middle, through which the spores burst:

This last one is a very common form of lichen, which is an association of specific species of photosynthetic algae or bacteria and specific species of fungi.

Lichens are fascinating. Did you know some are formed by species that cannot live all alone, but only symbiotically i.e. forming the lichens? Learn more about lichens here:

If you like meals prepared with mushrooms, check out these two recipes:

I am a nature, science, technology, programming, and DIY enthusiast. Biotechnologist and chemist, in the wet lab and in computers. I write about everything that lies within my broad sphere of interests. Check out my lists for more stories. Become a Medium member to access all stories by me and other writers, and subscribe to get my new stories by email (original affiliate links of the platform).