A few days ago I noticed some rather large fungi cropping up at the front entrance gate here at Struan Farm. I'm meant to be planting more tulips and daffodils in the roadside wooded garden here, also some purple crocus, and was contemplating the project. It's still a bit warm to plant the tulips, but the daffodils can go in any time.
A year or so ago we had a somewhat similar fungi pop up that grew to the size of a human head. I sent a photo to Geoff Ridley, author of the invaluable field guide "Mushrooms and Other Fungi of New Zealand." He was kind enough to identify it as a Skull Puffball, "calvatica caniformis."
I'm wondering if these are the same, and have emailed him again. One cluster looks slightly different from the other, perhaps it is older or something else entirely, but there aren't the same corrugated ridges as I noticed on the previous Skull Puffball. They may be forming on the one at the bottom.
I know, you'll be holding your breath until I get to the bottom of this fungi mystery, right? You're thinking I would probably do just about anything to avoid the ironing and the weeding, maybe even those daffodils too, and you may be right on that score. But guess what? Geoff got back to me shortly after I emailed him, and they all are skull puffballs. Mystery solved!
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