Mushrooms

Here are some pictures of some mushrooms that Mom found growing in our front and back yard.

These are called Shaggy Ink Mushrooms or Lawyer's Wig. I cut some and put them in a jar to make ink. On the bottom of the jar (bottom picture) you can see the ink that they have made already. Mom is pointing to it. I cut them at around 5:00 p.m. and it made that much ink by 8:40 this morning!
In the top picture, you can see the gills are starting to turn black. Soon, they will turn to ink. Also, look inside the stem. You can see the tiny, thin strings.

This is a picture of two Ink mushrooms that I left in the yard. If you look closely, you can see some black grass around it. It is black from the ink on the mushroom. They say these are edible, but I'm not about to eat one!!! The whole mushroom will turn to ink, stem and all!!! It is said George Washington used ink from this kind of mushroom to sign the constitution.

This is another kind of mushroom we think is called Collybia Butyracea, Butter Top, or Tough Shank. This is edible as well. But we aren't eating these either!

Here are directions and pictures to an experiment I did with mushrooms.

You will need:
A small glass
A kinda flat mushroom
A piece of white paper

1. Place the mushroom gill-side down on the piece of paper.
2. Place the glass over the mushroom.
3. Let the mushroom sit for a few hours. (I let mine sit over night)
4. Remove the glass and mushroom.
5. Lightly spray your print with hair-spray

What it does:
While the mushroom is sitting under the glass, the spores inside of the gills fall off on to the paper. You put the glass over it to block out air. I put a cocktail dish over it instead of a glass because it is smaller. You use the hair-spray to keep the spores from moving.

Here is a picture of how one of mine turned out:

You can use the same mushroom multiple times. I have used mine about 5 times.

I am going to make another post soon. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.