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Inky Caps
Coprinopsis subsect. Lanatuli
41.559, -73.2285
Field Notes
Description:
Delicate, gray-white caps with white stalks. Cap margins on the older mushrooms were curling upward with age. The largest cap diameter was about 3-4cm. The stems and caps were very fragile, and many of the caps appeared to have been bitten off.
Habitat:
They were growing on the ground in a deciduous forest.
Notes:
Inky caps have gills that partially liquefy as the mushroom matures. While the "ink" produced from the liquefying gills can actually be used as writing ink, it has a much more important function from the perspective of the mushroom. Liquefying the gills is actually a very clever strategy for efficient spore dispersal. The gills liquefy from the bottom up as the spores mature. As this happens, the cap peels up and the maturing spores are thus always kept in the best position for catching the wind for dispersal.
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