Lobster Mushrooms In The Enchanted Woods
Saturday I was shooting at Griffith Springs, outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. It’s a great one-mile loop hike with a natural spring, and fairies. Yes, I’m convinced it’s an Enchanted Wood complete with fairies, elves, some trees growing in strange shapes and lichen covered rocks that look as old as time itself.
See the two trees bent into a semicircle, in different directions?
While there, I came across two patches of Lobster mushrooms. They are bright orange, so bright they almost look fake.
Lobster mushrooms are parasitized Russulas and Lactarius mushrooms that have been targeted by a microscopic ascomycete (Hypomyces lactifluorum). This bright orange fungi attacks and transforms the mushroom in its early development and makes the tissues its own, and in the process turns it orange. Nature is so bizarre.
Have Fun,
Jeff
Lobster Mushroom (Hypomyces lactiflorum)
Lobster Mushroom (Hypomyces lactiflorum)
