Common Crumble cap / Pale Brittlestem

Candolleomyces candolleanus Common Crumble Cap

this is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw

as the english name implies this is a common mushroom that is brittle and crumbles when you try to pick it, especially the mature ones. it grows in small spread out clusters on lawns and pastures and occasionally on rotting birch trees. it may not be a mushroom for beginners but with a little effort it's not hard to identify and unlikey to be confused with toxic species.

some sources claim they are edible but i have never tried. the flesh is very thin so to amount to anything you need to pick a lot. often times it's no problem finding enough but as you collect them they inevitably fall apart. by the time you are ready to cook them, all that is left is a mess of bits and pieces. maybe okay for a brown soup or sauce i suppose but enough sources question their edibility so i don't bother.

they are gray-brown when young but become paler, almost white as they age

the funny part is that i still like them, just not to eat them. they are not exceptional in any visible way, neither colorful or shapely. in fact they are messy, though not as bad as the common inkcaps they may slightly resemble. i don't mind the mess because...

...because of the wonderful things it does. this lowly life form is saprotrophic, meaning it gets nourishment by breaking down dead organic matter, such as these dry lawn cuttings. how it manages to do that is very fascinating. though complex and with lots of scary unfamiliar terminology, its well worth researching if you love nature and ecology.

if you want to understand nature, and indeed life itself you must understand the life-death cycle. the role of fungi is an essential part in that cycle