I went to look for the mushroom that is the subject of sighting https://canberra.naturemapr.org/sightings/4571795. With both Tim’s photo and map in hand I conclude that, in my current sighting, the first photo shows a side-on view of the mushroom photographed by Tim. It has had an additional six days of natural change and weathering since Tim photographed it. There were several specimens of the same species nearby and I show these in the second photo, in which you see a range of stages of development. In the final photo I show a close-up of the underside of the smallest mushroom. You can see that the cobwebby partial veil (or cortina) is part way through rupturing as the cap expands. At this stage the gills are still quite white and you can see parts of a few gills. If you enlarge the photo may see what look like very short bristles sticking out from the gill edges. In this species there are microscopic organs called cystidia along the gill edges. Some mushrooms have them, some don’t and the shape and colour of cystidia are features that can help identify a species. While a microscope is necessary to see the cystidia clearly, a photo such as this alerts you to their presence.
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