Lepista with strange gills

[Morchella]

Managed to get out walking today for the first time in a few weeks. What a difference - fungi everywhere at last! Saw a huge mass of yellow waxcaps on the edge of a field, never seen them packed in so tightly.

Anyway this Lepista (let's not get into the nuda/sordida debate) caught my eye with its strange gills and I was wondering if it's some kind of genetic variation or maybe a disease?





Laura

[fairplay]

I think this is just how the cap began to curl up, and put too much strain on the gills and something had to give - so they snapped at the weakest point.

Neil.

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by fairplay

I think this is just how the cap began to curl up, and put too much strain on the gills and something had to give - so they snapped at the weakest point.

Neil.

agreed - the way fungal fruitbodies develop is much less determinate than the way many other life forms have to grow

think of the 'twins' you occasionally find even in those sold in the supermarkets

if anything interrupts their 'normal' growth all sorts of shapes can occur

best

Chris

[Morchella]

Thanks Neil & Chris,

I shall think of them as fungal stretch marks

Laura