All these species have their own niche in the world and adaptations for survival. They may use debris from the dead and dying trees or perhaps pine cones as a growing medium.  Others find the most improbable places to live their lives, growing out of the end of an old broken twig or adapting and growing in clusters on very thin stalks. With these adaptations they are able to compete with other other organisms in the struggle to survive.

Stalks can help in the identification of mushrooms. Whether they are long and thin or thick and heavy they are usually also very strong, pushing up through some tremendously solid substances.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the study of fungi involves the vast variety of unique fancy tops or caps. While some have admirable frilly finishes it is usually the colorful ones with strange patterns or curious assortment of shapes that generally catch the eye. For example, some mushrooms have long slender tops that can be three or four times longer than they are wide and stand solidly together.

Mushrooms are strange and wonderful with odd looking shapes and fantastic colours.

They can look like white blobs on black and white sticks (left), or a purple opening flower (below left) or a catcher’s mitts (below right). Amazing shapes indeed.

The two mushrooms above further show the diversity of these organisms. The white mushroom is similar in colour to a drop of plain white acrylic paint with no markings at all while the black specimen resembles a rolled up piece of black paper.

These last two images further demonstrate the diversity of fungi.

The one on the left is the edible Lobster Mushroom.  In reality it is a parasite mushrooms and feeds on other mushrooms which give it its cooked lobster colour.

On the right however is a Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, a member of the most poisonous groups in North America.

With this in mind, it should be mentioned that only those with expertise in mushroom collecting should consider eating any member of these amazing organisms.