Colors

Anyone reading this blog must be tired of posts about mushrooms by now but I'm afraid you are going to have to deal with at least one more. On my walk yesterday, I saw two mushrooms with amazing colors and shapes. Usually, I see shades of white and perhaps some brown. But the top picture shows a mushroom that seems purple to me. But that is not all that is interesting. If you click on the picture, you can see it full sized. Look at the stem. It looks more like the rough bark of a tree than the usual smooth and round texture you'd see on a normal mushroom. This one seems to have defied the odds in rising out of the ground. It looks like it had to fight for every moment of its existence. Also, look at the area under the cap where the gills are found. Something like sap seems to be oozing out. From what I read, this is not uncommon for certain types of mushrooms but I've never seen it before.

The second mushroom is just as strange. Its color is even more vivid and it seems to have had just as torturous a life as the previous mushroom. I wish I could have had the time and patience to watch as it grew. I don't know if all mushrooms of this type grow like this or something caused it to be shaped like this. I will try to look this up. Also, I wonder if these colors are a warning of being poisonous. Do animals learn to stay away from these because of their vivid color? Is this like the warning color of a skunk or a wasp?

I find this all fascinating. I just wish I had the time to look into it more.