Magpie Inkcap - Coprinus picaceus
November 22nd, 2008 | Written by Lucy Brzoska admin |
I found these Magpie Inkcaps (Coprinus picaceus) in a dark damp corner of Collserola, growing among brambles. When fresh, their glistening caps are cylindrical and covered in tattered veil remnants.
As the gills liquify, the cap shrinks and flattens. Its brim rolls up and drips an inky substance. This allows all the spores to get their turn at maximum exposure, so they can be carried away by air currents.
Spores dispersed, the inkcap collapses, dissolved like the Wicked Witch of the West.
The typical tree of the Pyrenees, Pinus uncinata, is spreading in Catalonia, as traditional agricultural and livestock activities decline. In the last 50 years, the Mountain Pine population has grown by 16%, reports the Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC), after a comparative study of aerial photographs. With income in mountain areas increasingly generated by tourism, the Mountain Pine has been free to colonise areas with good growing conditions, unlike the tree in the photo, surviving at the upper limit of its range in the natural park of 