10 Strangely Beautiful Mushrooms

The Brain mushroom (Gyromitra esculenta)

Gyromitra esculenta, one of several species of fungi known as false morels, is an ascomycete fungus from the genus Gyromitra, widely distributed across Europe and North America. It normally sprouts in sandy soils under coniferous trees in spring and early summer. The fruiting body, or mushroom, is an irregular brain-shaped cap dark brown in colour which can reach 10 cm high and 15 cm wide, perched on a stout white stipe up to 6 cm (2.4 in) high. Although potentially fatal if eaten raw, Gyromitra esculenta is a popular delicacy in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the upper Great Lakes region of North America. Although popular in some districts of the eastern Pyrenees, it is prohibited from sale to the public in Spain. It may be sold fresh in Finland, but it must be accompanied by warnings and instructions on correct preparation. It is eaten in omelettes, soups, or sautéed in Finnish cuisine. Although it is still commonly parboiled before preparation, recent evidence suggests that even this procedure may not make the fungus entirely safe, thus raising concerns of risk even when prepared properly. 

The Bleeding Tooth fungus (Hydnellum pecki)

Allow me to introduce to you one of the more unusual members of Kingdom Fungi, the Bleeding Tooth Fungus, or Hydnellum peckii which goes by various names often referring to juice or blood. This fungus can be found in North America where it is more common in the Pacific Northwest and resides mostly in coniferous forests. The Bleeding Tooth also makes appearances in Europe and has recently been discovered in both Iran and Korea. Upon a first glimpse of the bleeding tooth fungus, one may dismiss the ruby-red liquid as the blood of some poor forest creature splattered across the white mushroom cap. When inspected more closely, it becomes obvious that the fungus is oozing liquid through its own small pores.

The Giant puffball (Calvatia Gigantea)

The giant puffball, Calvatia gigantea, is easily recognized by its size and shape. Typical specimens are about the size of a soccer ball, and more or less round. However, it can be much larger (a 5-foot, 50-pound specimen is on record!), and its shape can be more "blob-ish" than round, especially when it attains enormous sizes. But it is never shaped like an inverted pear, since it lacks the sterile base portion common to many other puffballs.

The Devil's Cigar (Chorioactis) – world's rarest fungi

A star-shaped mushroom, called the Devil's Cigar (Chorioactis geaster) is one of the world's rarest fungi. It's also known as the Texas star. These fungi had been detected only in central Texas, two remote locations in Japan, and most recently in the mountains of Nara. The Devil's Cigar is a dark brown cigar-shaped capsule that transforms into a tan-coloured star when it splits open to release its spores. It is also one of only a few known fungi that produce a distinct whistle sound when releasing its spores.

Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)

Trametes versicolor, often called the "turkey tail," has the dubious distinction of being the only member of the forest fungal fowl community not named for the full bird, but a feathery fraction. However, the chicken of the woods and the hen of the woods look nothing at all like chickens or hens, while the turkey tail does look (vaguely) like a turkey's tail. Who started this clucking menagerie of mushroom monikers, anyway?

Sky Blue mushroom (Entoloma hochstetteri)

Entoloma hochstetteri is a species of mushroom found in New Zealand and India. The small mushroom is a distinctive all-blue colour, while the gills have a slight reddish tint from the spores. The blue colouring of the fruit body is due to three azulene pigments. Entoloma hochstetteri is not edible, but whether or not it is poisonous is unknown. This species was one of six native fungi featured in a set of fungal stamps issued in New Zealand in 2002. It is also seen on the reverse side of the $50 bank note, issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in 1990.

Bearded Tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceus)

This mushroom that looks like noodles or pom-pom are known to a variety of name like Lion's Mane Mushroom, Bearded Tooth Mushroom, Hedgehog Mushroom, Bearded Hedgehog Mushroom, or Bearded Tooth Fungus. It is an edible mushroom in the tooth fungus group. In the wild, these mushrooms are common during late summer and fall on dead hardwoods, particularly American Beech

Dog Stinkhorn (Mutinus caninus)

Mutinus caninus, commonly known as the Dog Stinkhorn, is a small thin, phallus-shaped woodland fungus, with a dark tip. It is often found growing in small groups on wood debris, or in leaf litter, during summer and autumn in Europe and eastern North America. It is not generally considered edible, although there are reports of the immature 'eggs' being consumed.

Bioluminescent fungi (Mycena chlorophos)

No, you're not hallucinating; you really are seeing bright green mushrooms, but if you are partial to the odd magic mushie, these images won't faze you in the slightest. These neon green mushrooms, or Mycena chlorophos, to use the technical term, emerge during the rainy season in Japanese and Brazilian forests, scattering the floor with glowing spores. The bases of tree trunks, fallen branches, leaf litter and moist soil provide perfect breeding grounds for the mushrooms. Found mostly on Mesameyama island in Ugui, Japan and Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park, Brazil, the appearance of these garish looking fungi is due to bioluminescence, one of the weird but wonderful reactions that happen naturally in many plants and animals.

Fly Amanita (Amanita muscaria) – world's most famous mushroom

Also known as the fly Agaric or the fly Amanita, the Amanita muscaria is a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungi, which is one of many in the genus Amanita. There are several subspecies, and each of them has a different cap color. These include the yellow-range flavivolata guessowii, formosa, the pink persicina, and the brown regalis (although it is now considered a separate species).

Fly Agaric's are one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture. They have been featured in children's books, films, garden ornaments, greeting cards, and computer games. This toadstool is associated with the famous book turned movie, Alice in Wonderland; the mushroom in Super Mario Bros., and more. It is also known as the mushroom of flies from due to Albertus Magnus' work in De vegetabilibus where he stated, “It is called the mushroom of flies, because crushed in milk it kills flies”.





Charmedwishes...
Blessed be!

List of Fabulous Artworks Ever Made

My list is comprised mainly of Pre-Raphalelite artwork as it is my favorite style. I have also included a few select pieces from some of my favorite artists as well. I wish I could have included work from Edward Blair Leighton, Kahlo, O'keeffe, Dahi and Degas, and many more pieces from Waterhouse, Bouguereau, and Klimt. I enjoy many of Bouguereau's paintings so that is why there are so many of them. Cupidon is among my all time favorites.

I will also take this opportunity to write a little about William-Adolphe Bouguereau since he is my most favorite artist. As a young man, Bouguereau put himself through the Ecole des Beaux-Arts by keeping books for a wine merchant and coloring lithographic labels for a local grocer. In his spare time, late in the evening, he created drawings from memory. This diligence and discipline resulted in an extrordinarily productive artistic life. Bouguereau produced more than seven hundred finished works and achieved a remarkable level of public acclaim and financial success. He never forgot his difficult early days, however; working secretly, he assisted young artists who were struggling as he had to pursue an artistic career in the face of financial difficulties.
Like many painters of the second half of the 19th century, Bouguereau made a careful study of form and technique and steeped himself in classical sculpture and painting. True to his serious and industrious nature, he worked deliberately and industriously: before beginning a painting he would master the history of his subject and complete numerous sketches.

The tenderness with which he portrayed children and domestic scenes, his technical skill and passion for the classics, and his love of rich color are hallmarks of Bouguereau's exquisite paintings.

Echo and Narcissus- John William Waterhouse

Echo and Narcissus is an oil painting, created in 1903 by Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse. The painting illustrate the poem Echo and Narcissus by Ovid. Echo was a nymph. She was in love with Narcissus but he became so enamoured with his own reflection in a stream that he was fixated by the image, and Echo wasted away through unrequited love, all that remained was the 'echo' of her voice. To punish Narcissus he was transformed into a flower of the same name by the gods....

A Mermaid- John William Waterhouse

Boreas- John William Waterhouse

Boreas is an oil painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style created in 1903 by John William Waterhouse. The painting is titled Boreas, after the Greek god of the north wind and it shows a young girl buffeted by the wind. The 1904 Royal Academy notes described the subject of the painting as: Boreas was put up for sale in the mid-1990s after having been lost for 90 years - causing quite a sensation in the art community. The painting achieved a record price for Waterhouse at that time, achieving a price £848,500...

Flaming June- Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton

Flaming June is a painting by Frederic Lord Leighton, produced in 1895. Painted with oil paint on a 47" x 47" square canvas, it is widely considered to be Leighton's magnum opus, showing his classicist nature. It is thought that the woman portrayed alludes to the sleeping figures the Greeks would often paint which were collectively referred to as Venus. Flaming June was auctioned in the 1960s, during a period of time known to be difficult for selling Victorian era paintings, where it failed to sell for...

The Kiss- Gustav Klimt

The Kiss (original Der Kuss) was painted by Gustav Klimt, during his ‘golden period’, and is probably his most famous work. It depicts a couple, in various shades of gold and symbols, sharing a kiss against a bronze background. Two figures are situated at the edge of a flowered escarpment. The man is wearing neutral coloured rectangles and a crown of vines; the woman wears brightly coloured tangent circles and flowers in her hair. The twain’s embrace is enveloped by triangular vining and a veil of concentric circles.

Danaë- Gustav Klimt

Danaë is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt, created in 1907. The canvas measures 77 x 83 cm, is cataloged as Symbolism; and is currently housed within the Galerie Würthle, in Vienna, Austria.Danaë was a popular subject in the early 1900’s for many artists; she was used as the quintessential symbol of divine love, and transcendence. While imprisoned by her father, King of Argos in a tower of bronze, she was visited by Zeus, symbolized here as the golden rain flowing between her legs, apparent from the subject's face that she is aroused by the golden stream.
In this work, she is curled in a sumptuous royal purple veil which refers to her imperial lineage. Sometime after her celestial visitation she gave birth to a son, Perseus, who is cited later in Greek mythology for slaying the Gorgon Medusa and rescuing Andromeda.

Proserpina- Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Lady of Shalott is an 1888 oil-on-canvas painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse. The work is a representation of a scene from Lord Alfred Tennyson's 1832 poem of the same name, in which the poet describes the plight of a young woman (loosely based on Elaine of Astolat, who yearned with an unrequited love for the knight Sir Lancelot) isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur's Camelot. Waterhouse painted three different versions of this character, in , in 1888, 1894 and 1916.
According to legend, the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to look directly at reality or the outside world; instead she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry. Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance, and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normality. One day the Lady saw Sir Lancelot passing on his way in the reflection of the mirror, and dared to look out at Camelot, bringing about a curse. The lady escaped by boat during an autumn storm, inscribing 'The Lady of Shalott' on the prow. As she sailed towards Camelot and certain death, she sang a lament. Her frozen body was found shortly afterwards by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul. The tapestry she wove during her imprisonment was found draped over the side of the boat.

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May- John William Waterhouse

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May is an oil painting on canvas created in 1909 by British Pre-Raphaelite artist, John William Waterhouse. It was the second of two paintings inspired by the 17th century poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick which begins:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

The artwork was valued at $2.5 million by Sotheby's prior to auction in April 2007, although the painting went  unsold.

The Wheel of Fortune- Edward Burne-Jones

The Birth of Venus- Sandro Botticelli

Ophelia- Arthur Hughes

Cupidon - William-Adolphe Bouguereau

"Tête d'Etude l'Oiseau" - William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Chansons de printemps - William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Two Sisters- William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The First Kiss- William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Bacchante-  William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Bunch of Grapes -William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Daisies -William-Adolphe Bouguereau

The Mother 

Maternal Admiration 

Biblis

A Child Bathing

Charity

Child with roses

Little Beggar Girls

Little Ballerina

Child With Apples

Muses

Bathing Women

Cupidon (Full-length)

Flagellation of Christ

Dark beauty

Girl with Coronet of Roses

Resisting Temptation From Cupid

Evening Mood

Cherubs with a Beauty

The Girl With a Pitcher

Gypsies

Back From The Harvest

The Guide of Homer

The Scavengers

The Interruption From Work

Eros and Psyche

The Secret

Reflection

Shepherdess

The sleeping Infant

Soul Brought to Heaven

The Dance

Birth of Venus

Cupid

Dante's Inferno

Charmedwishes...
Blessed be!