Curious Aussies contemplating adding a “creepy” yet very common backyard fungus to their dinner have been warned to be careful.
The growth, named coprinus comatus, and otherwise known as the shaggy ink cap or lawyer’s wig, more closely resembles a ball of melting tar than a mushroom, but experts say it can be eaten with great caution.
The CSIRO recently posted an image of the bizarre fungus on Facebook for Fungi Friday, saying it is often found “growing on lawns, along gravel roads and in waste areas”.
Stunned social media users described the “alien mushroom” as “striking and cool”.
Fungus changes colour before ‘melting’
“Its gills start out white, then pink, then turn black and ‘melt’ into a black liquid filled with spores,” the CSIRO explained. “These fungi curiously turn black and dissolve themselves in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.”
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Professor Brett Summerell, Chief Scientist of Education and Conservation at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, said shaggy ink caps appear to have been introduced to Australia and can be found in most urban areas after decent rainfall.
“It is deliquescent — which means it absorbs water from the atmosphere and this triggers reactions, probably enzymatic, that start the break down of the tissue and this results in the black melting process which probably makes the spores easier to disperse by insects.”
Experts say the shaggy ink cup fungus is edible when young, before it begins melting, but people should always be careful. Source: Gary James/Tom Norton/iNaturalist
Inky liquid can be used for painting
Dr Tom May, senior mycologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, told Yahoo shaggy ink caps are one of a number of fungi that “have developed a fascinating way of dispersing spores” — effectively “autodigesting” itself, allowing the black spores to blow away.
“Most of the spores blow away in the wind, but quite a few are caught in the drops of liquid caused by the autodigestion, forming an inky liquid, which drops down from the mushroom,” he said.
“The whole process from the initial button of the Coprinus comatus mushroom poking through the soil to the fully collapsed inky mass leaving just the stipe of the mushroom only takes a day or two.”
The inky liquid can be used for painting and is “reputed to have been used in printing, providing a unique microscopic signature in the ink, to prevent forgery”, he added.
Warning about eating shaggy ink cup fungus
While the CSIRO doesn’t “endorse the consumption of any fungus” referenced in its weekly shoutouts, Dr Summerell said the growth is edible when young, before it begins melting.
“But don’t eat it with consumption of alcohol as the mushrooms contain a chemical coprine, which inhibits the breakdown of alcohol in the liver and can lead to very nasty cases of nausea — only eat if you are absolutely sure of the identification.”
The mushroom can sometimes be confused with the magpie fungus which is poisonous, according to the Atlas of Living Australia, which describes the shaggy ink cup’s flavour as “excellent” only if it’s eaten soon after being picked. It’s understood to be commonly cultivated in China.
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