Here’s the second of our new series of  pictures of plants and trees in York’s Museum Gardens by our garden manager Sjaak Kastelijn.

This week’s picture is of a group of Coprinus comatus, the shaggy mane mushroom also known as “the lawyer’s wig”.

This mushroom is one of the easiest to recognise due to to shape, colour and the black ink it produces.

The photo is taken in the compost area where the mushrooms have been growing on a pile of rotting leaves – the perfect place as they like to grow in dung or very rich organic soil.

The mushrooms are self-digesting - after the spores have matured and been released, the gill tissue digests itself and begins to curl up allowing spores above this to be released. As part of this process the whole fruiting body turns into black ink. The ink was used to write with.

In the early growing stage this mushroom is edible but needs to be consumed within a few hours after picking.

Here’s the first in a regular series of  pictures of plants and trees in York’s Museum Gardens by our garden manager Sjaak Kastelijn.

This week the picture is of a Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus nitens ‘Shining Gem’). This tree has been severely damaged by frost/cold winds over the winter, but is now beginning to re-grow with new shoots from the stem.

This tree has his origin from South Eastern Australia,  and grows well in rich moist soil, preferably in a sheltered position. In Summer months Eucalyptus sheds its bark, instantly rolling up in large pieces.  The dead bark is hard and brittle.  This species, unlike other Eucalyptus does not coppice.  However when burnt in forest fires, it will regenerate by throwing out suckers from the main trunk – even from charred remains.