Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 10 Apr 2022

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Leijpark 013 Blue plate stropharia

Published by Thierry P. Dinjens · 7 April at 7:55pm ·
We can't open the newspaper or turn on the radio (or watch our social media) or the news is about Russia. Given the current situation in Ukraine, this is not surprising. The news only speaks about the war and not (anymore) about Russia as a country in itself. Yet a life form that we found in the Leijpark points towards the land of matryoshcap dolls, the Volga and Peter the Great. Such a large country has one very big goal, in addition to all the other interests at play, and that is to feed its own population. Russia would like to be self-sufficient so that the country does not depend on other countries as far as food is concerned.
An important nutrient is sugar, and Russia is almost self-sufficient in this production. With a sugar production of 6 million tons of sugar per year, the country is fast becoming independent in this area. All this sugar comes from sugar beet, so it's important to protect the crops well. Beet heaps can absolutely not stand the frost, and today these heaps are protected with windproof beet cloth or agricultural plastic. However, straw used to be used for this purpose. Straw is in fact the chaff of grain and the chaff of all kinds of cereals can be used to make straw. And it is here on this straw that protects the Russian beets from the cold, where a special mushroom grows: the Blauwplaatstropharia.
A whole mouthful: the name stropharia comes from the Greek word “strophos” which means “belt” and this name refers to the belt around the stem of this mushroom. The lamellas (the pictures between which the tracks are located) at the bottom of the hat are blue, hence the name Blauwplaatstropharia.
This mushroom is edible and even very tasty. The better seed dealers sell wood chips or straw in which this mold is already present. With proper care, the fungi emerge over time. The hat can grow into a disc of up to thirty centimeters in diameter. For the elderly among us or the newbies who have fallen in love with vinyle sound carriers again: thirty centimeters is the same diameter as of an LP (full-length). These huge hats have earned the fungus the nickname 'Godzilla Mushroom'. The fungus is originally American. An American who is doing well on Russian beetstraw, hmm, so it can!
In Asia, this species also grows on elephant manure, which naturally contains large amounts of undigested grass. In the Leijpark we found her on a chopping path. The rise of the wood chipper was when the fungus began its spread. Shredded wood is now used everywhere in parks and allotments, because wood chips perish over time and thus supply the soil with nutrients. In addition, they form well-passable natural paths for pedestrians.
If you want to supplement a delicious vegetarian or vegan dish with this mushroom, you can remove the blue pictures and feast on!
The Blauwplaatstropharia has the nickname 'beetwell agaric' for the aforementioned reasons. This organism also tells us a whole story about how everything in the world is connected. And while we see boycott appear so we have to tighten the belt again, the belt of the Blauwplaatstropharia shines like never before. At least, as long as there are wood chips, but no fear there: where is cut down (and unfortunately this is the order of the day) chips fall.
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