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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Toadstool Tuesday

Mushroom or Toadstool? I used to think there was some kind of distinction between the two and that only I was ignorant of the difference. However, a little research indicates that the vagueness in my mind is simply a reflection of the actual state of affairs. Regardless of what some people may think, there is no clearcut distinction between mushrooms and toadstools. One person's mushroom may be another person's toadstool. Toadstool is certainly the more picturesque of the two terms but in the past it has been associated with poisonous fungi and it seems that it is fading out of use. These fungi were photographed in Thetis Lake Regional Park.


4 comments:

JoJo said...

Hood Photo Blog has been also posting mushrooms. Someone on my FB posted a pic of them in their yard and asked if anyone knew if they were poisonous. I think, as a rule, no one should attempt to eat wild fungi.

paul said...

In German, there is only one word: Pilz. When I first arrived in NZ with limited English, someone corrected me when I pointed out a "mushroom" - "No, that's a toadstool". Eventually, I decided that mushrooms grow in shops to be eaten, and toadstools grow in the wild...

paul said...

p.s. Love your shots of fungi!

William Kendall said...

They almost have an otherworldly feel to them....