Normally Father Pitt calls them “mushrooms,” but this one, fresh out of the ground, looked so much like a storybook toadstool that one expected to see a slightly grumpy fairy sitting under it. This is almost certainly the same species as the Russula mushrooms we featured earlier, since it grew in the same patch of shady lawn.
It has been good weather for mushrooms. These extraordinarily fugitive little mushrooms pop up overnight and are completely withered by afternoon. Father Pitt believes that they are Parasola plicatilis, but any mushroom-lover is invited to correct his identification.
In spite of the difference in color, these two very decorative mushrooms appear to be the same species; they were both growing in the same shaded lawn in Mount Lebanon in the middle of June. They are almost certainly a species of Russula, and perhaps Russula emetica; but Father Pitt is not at all sure that the exact species can be identified from a photograph. Any mushroom expert is invited to correct his identification.
Identified as Mycena leaiana, until someone tells Father Pitt otherwise. They were growing along the Trillium Trail in Fox Chapel.
Old Pa Pitt is not a mushroom expert. He believes these to be Mycena leaiana, but any correspondent is invited to correct (or confirm) his identification. The ones below are a little past their prime, but still decorative.
Bright orange mushrooms, probably a species of Laetiporus (mushroom lovers are invited to correct this identification), growing on a log in Frick Park. Behind them, Orange Touch-Me-Nots (Impatiens capensis) are blooming in almost exactly the same shade of orange.
