August 27, 2009

• “…less common sense than an aphid.”

  That was Greyfox’s assessment of my mentality last night after I shared with him my sudden flash of insight regarding the little yellow fungi (still unidentified) in my yard, about which I wrote yesterday.

  The easiest way to lead into this story is to copy and paste some comments and replies from the photo here.

  Might this be a Chanterelle? Does it smell kind of fruity? Does it get bigger?
  the_nthian

  @the_nthian - Most are about the size of my thumb.  The biggest ones have round tops about an inch to an inch and a quarter across, flat or slightly concave.  No gill striations, no wavy or downturned edges, all growing singly, none in clusters.  I couldn’t detect any scent, and the taste is slightly sweet.

  …@the_nthian - …and within fifteen minutes of tasting it, the tip of my tongue and part of my lower lip are numb.

  …as they say..”every mushroom is edible. some of them only once.”
  the_nthian

  I hadn’t seen Ian’s last response at the time I was talking to Greyfox last night.  I told him about going out after I read Ian’s question about the scent of the ‘shrooms, picking one, failing to smell anything at all, touching the tip of my tongue to the fungus, tasting the sweetness, resisting the temptation to pop it into my mouth when it tasted so sweet, then having my tongue and a spot on my lip that I’d touched with my tongue, first go numb, then tingle, then burn, and having an uncomfortable case of stomach gas, belching a lot….

  Greyfox and I went on discussing that for a while.  It was mostly him admonishing me about my recklessness and me agreeing in monosyllables, until I did a sudden sharp intake of breath and said, “AH!” (meaning, I suppose, “AHA!”)  Having gotten the Old Fart’s attention, I went on to explain the flash of insight.

  I told him that those little yellow shrooms were pristine, the only intact fungi in the yard.  Nearly every other kind of fungus out there is either full of bugs or insect larvae, and/or have been torn apart or visibly nibbled upon by rodents, cats, etc.  Then here are these bright and showy little things growing there for weeks, undisturbed.

  He replied, “…and then there’s the occasional crazy redhead who comes along and licks the damned thing.”  After that, he compared my sense unfavorably with that of an aphid, and we busted up in guffaws.

  For the record:  I did have the good sense not to eat the damned thing, didn’t really even “lick” it.  I touched it with just the tip of my tongue.  I could hypocritically say I won’t do it again, but given my track record in such matters, I just might do something like that in future, in similar circumstances.  More than a few times since my early childhood people have remarked on the fact that often the first thing I do when I see something interesting is to grab it and stick it in my mouth.

  

  
  

  • 2:37 pm
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