New Week::New Theme: Fungi Fun
Australian math/physics teacher and nature photographer, JJ Harrison, captured this up-close-and-personal shot of an Amanita Muscaria along Marriott Falls Track in Tasmania, Australia.
Mother Nature certainly sculpted a beautiful, yet toxic, work of art with this mushroom. I love the bright red circular top with its sprinkling of white highlights and the cute little frilly skirt on its stem. And with it turned up like this, we can see some of its symmetrical under-belly membranes.
From Kew Gardens about this mushroom:
It is amongst the most iconic of the toadstools, commonly depicted in children’s books and on Christmas cards around the world. It is highly distinctive and, at least when fresh and in good condition, can hardly be confused with any other species.
Its hallucinogenic properties have been well-known for centuries and the species has a long history of use in religious and shamanistic rituals, especially in Siberia. It is a common and widespread fungus, native to much of the north-temperate world, and an important ectomycorrhizal associate of various broadleaved and coniferous trees. Its fruitbodies are also utilised by a wide variety of flies (Diptera) and by some beetles (Coleoptera) as breeding sites.
View more of JJ’s nature photography via his wikipedia photo gallery.
Inspiration For Today
Like this beautiful little toadstool, lets allow ourselves to shine in all of our glory.
Happy Coloring!
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