The cosmopolitan mushroom: The Fairy Inkcap
The Fairy inkcap or The Fairy Bonnet has been named referring to the tiny but magical appearance of this fungi, they usually form in large groups that often cover rotting tree stumps, roots or grass-covered areas creating a fairytale town of mushrooms.
The scientific name for these small but brilliant fungi is Coprinellus Disseminatus, named by a mycologist named Jakob Emanuel Langue. The fairy inkcap is international being found in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas; making finding them a pretty easy task. If you do wish to see these fungi for yourself, you can head out anytime from Spring to Autumn and they are most eye-catching when they are in their early stages (bright white and dome-shaped, they then begin to open out and turn different shades of grey). In my images below, you can see the differences between the white dome shape and grey umbrella shape of the older and younger forms of the Fairy inkcaps.
One of the first questions you may have is regarding its edibility; this mushroom is edible but you may have a hard time eating it. The Coprinellus Disseminatus is extremely delicate, this gives them another commonly known name 'the trooping crumble cap'. These small fruiting bodies will crumble at a delicate touch and are mild in taste, the size of them also adds to them not being such a good choice for a mushroom-focused meal. The Fungi are in the taxonomical order Agaricales (which contains gilled mushrooms) and the family Psathyrellaceae (which refers to their delicate nature).
