In hopes of catching a nice batch of Coprinus to look at the first thing I did when I went outside today is run over to see if any new mushrooms had popped up since yesterday. I was in luck. This morning I finally was able to capture a few good photos of intact Coprinus mushrooms growing on a large pile of willow bark. These mushrooms last a day or less so I am glad I caught them when I did. The Coprinus seem to really enjoy the willow bark as a substrate and have colonized a large portion of the bark. I dug into the bark a bit and the mycelium is so dense in some areas it was no longer bark but mostly a thick white spongy block. You can note in one of the pictures how dense the mycelium is throughout the wood chips.
These mushrooms were just starting to poke through the bark last night and less than 12 hours later there were 3 to 5 inches tall with some starting to auto-digest themselves. It’s amazing how fast they can grow. The rain has soaked the pile of bark thoroughly over the past week so I am looking forward to what pops up next.
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