How quickly the wonder of actually being able to see fungal spores fades away to ... well, they're all a bit the same aren't they? Not Russulas! In previous seasons I'd given up recording Russula species because the chances of being able to verify observations were so slim. I bought a microscope because I was only able to confirm about half of what I found in the field anyway, but the Russulacae were definitely the worst. Even before I got my microscopy on I'd made some progress, being able to recognize a couple of species in the field, but I knew that the intricate surface structures of Russula spores were the key to this group. Because it's been so dry this season it's actually been difficult to get spores from many specimens, and the direct smash and grab approach of squashes and sections is still a bit beyond my feeble abilities at present. What a pleasure then to get a nice spore print from a recent find. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Fragile Brittlegill, Russula fragilis.
Sony ILCE-6000
E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS
f8 50mm 2s ISO 200
