Sunday, 5 November 2017

Call me Sherlock

Call me Sherlock


I literally tripped over this LBJ when I was walking round a tree doing a Pep Ventosa. As soon as I saw if I suspected it would be trouble. Rather undistinguished but with a strong and familiar smell - which I couldn't put a name to. As there were quite a few I took one home for an I.D. It was rather old and dry so I didn't manage to get any spores from it, which would have helped. At a bit of a loss, I ran it through MycoKey. I'm clearly doing something wrong because MycoKey pointed me at the wrong genera (again). So, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the identity. Looking at the underside of the cap I was 90% sure it was a Webcap, so I started trawling Cortinarius. As soon as I saw the word pelargonium I had it - those summer afternoons in conservatories full of scarlet "geraniums". This is the Pelargonium Webcap, Cortinarius flexipes.


Nikon D7200
Tokina 100mm f/2.8
f11 1/100 ISO 720