NWR: Amanita Muscaria

S

SFJoe

Joe Dougherty
An unusually cool time-lapse video here. A friend writes: Please check out my new time lapse sequence of Amanita muscaria doing its thing from 11/23/2012 to 12/2/2012 in Sonoma County California.

Frames are every 10 minutes. Pentax optio WG1. I didn’t realize the mushroom was falling over when I repositioned the camera! Very slowly falling, I guess.

Anyhow, quite remarkable and fun, if you like that sort of thing.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
That's fun. Does it propagate by shedding spores from the gills under the cap?
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Yes.

Though there may be other mechanisms involving clonal spread & etc. I am no great expert.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
That's fun. Does it propagate by shedding spores from the gills under the cap?
Click to expand...
The gills are an adaptation to increase surface area. They are covered with little spore-pockets. But it is the same gag as a radiator.
 
One can also see very graphically how the spots on top are the remnants of the veil that covered the whole mushroom when it was very small, and how the little ring around the stem is the remnant of the veil that covered the bottom of the cap early on.

I miss seeing these guys this time of year.
 
Very cool, Joe, and I echo your regret at not seeing them live. It's also not insignificant that these caps weren't being disturbed by any of the local fauna -- hardly a coincidence.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
It's also not insignificant that these caps weren't being disturbed by any of the local fauna -- hardly a coincidence.
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Although I would guess that the bright color and the upright cup shape (which holds rainwater) are both an attempt at attracting attention.
 
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