The Mica Cap - "Coprinellus Micaceus"

Hello lovely Hiveans !

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Today I have an entry for the Fungi Lovers Community and their #fungifriday initiative. For my post I choose the Coprinellus Micaceus, one of the first edible fungi that appears in early spring all over the world and that is known to fruit nearly throughout the whole year.

Scientific Classification of Coprinellus Micaceus

  • Kingdom: Fungi
  • Division: Basidiomycota
  • Class: Agaricomycetes
  • Order: Agaricales
  • Family: Psathyrellaceae
  • Genus: Coprinellus
  • Species: Coprinellus Micaceus

Distribution of Coprinellus Micaceus

The Coprinellus Micaceus is actually one of the best known fungi on earth. The reason for this is, that is has a cosmopolitan distribution behavior. Thereby the term "cosmopolitan" means that it can be found throughout all continents on earth, with exception of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. From all the continents, the fungus is especially well distributed throughout Europe and covers the whole area ranging from Great Britain & France in the west to Sweden, Russia and Turkey in the east. This probably makes it the most plugged and edible naturally growing fungi of the world, or so I assume 😉

Especially in Germany the Coprinellus Micaceus appears just everywhere. This fungus can be mainly found in deciduous and mixed forests, which are quite common here, but rarely in coniferous forests. Thereby it favors biotopes such as roadsides and bushes, which makes them easy to spot. In addition this fungus can be found very very often as a saprobiont near rotting hardwood tree stumps.

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The Coprinellus Micaceus favors deciduous forests and can be found on roadsides, at bushes and as a saprobiont on rotten wood.

  • Distribution: - Cosmopolitan distribution, especially throughout Europe
  • Biotopes: - Deciduous and mixed forests, along roadsides and bushes
  • Ecology: - Saprotrophic nutrition

Appearance of Coprinellus Micaceus

The cap of the Coprinellus Micaceus has a really nice ovoid to bell-shaped form, with a diameter up to 5 cm. This of course is a bit different on each fungus, but in general it can be said, that the cap shape is ovoid at the beginning of the fungus life and gradually curves outwards in a bell shape the older it becomes. The fungi that can be seen in all the pictures here are actually still quite young. Thereby the caps reached diameters between 2 to 4 cm. The cap of the shown specimens have a creamy to ocher brown color. Towards the center of the cap the color then darkens gradually. In addition the skin of the cap is initially furrowed. With growing age these will then becomes more and more wrinkled and also darker.

The stem of the fungi can get as long as 8 cm and as thick as 5 mm. They have a white color and look a bit shiny, like silk. As these fungi here are still young it can not be seen, but the older they become, the more brownish stained and clumsy the stems will become at their bases.

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The Coprinellus Micaceus has a ovoid cap that gradually curves outwards in a bell shape. It has a creamy to ocher brown color that darkens towards the center.

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The stem can get 8 cm long and 5 mm thick. It is white color and a bit shiny like silk.

  • Cap Size: - Diameter of 5 cm
  • Cap Shape: - Oval to bell-shaped
  • Cap Color: - Creamy to ocher brown color that gradually darkens towards the center
  • Stem Size: - 8 cm in length and 5 mm in thickness

Edibility of Coprinellus Micaceus

This fruit bodies of the fungi are actually edible, but only if they are boiled shortly after they have been plugged. If one is waiting to long, approximately 3 hours, the gills are beginning to blacken and start to dissolve, as and internal autodigestion will start after that time. Only by boiling off the bodies, the digestion process can be prevented, as boiling will destroy the responsible enzymes that are causing this process. As the Coprinellus Micaceus usually grows in dense clusters they can be luckily plugged in good quantities directly and then be quickly used to make a tasty soup out of it.

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The Coprinellus Micaceus grows in dense clusters. The fruit bodies are edible, but have to be boiled off directly to destroy an enzyme that otherwise starts an autodigestion process.

Date and Location of the Discovery

The Coprinellus Micaceus fungi were found in October 2020 in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.


All pictures were taken by myself, ©@adalger, with a Huawei P30 Mobile Phone. For information gathering I use the corresponding Wikipedia articles of the Coprinellus Micaceus in English and German language.


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Best wishes,
Adalger

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