After a good rain, I’m always finding a random mushroom here and there in the garden. These tiny shrooms emerged from a bed of woodchip mulch, and after some Googling, I discovered they were Cyanthus striatus, also known as Bird’s Nest Fungus.
In their immature state, they look like white nubs, no more than a half-centimeter in diameter. When fully open, they contain little silver eggs (called peridioles) which are clusters of spores. The mushrooms are shaped in such a way that when raindrops fall, they splash inside the “bowls” and cause the spores to eject into their surroundings. With all our rain lately, I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more of these in the garden!
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