'shrooms

Spotted these 'fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus' (Wikipedia) this morning whilst on a dog walk in a local park. What I know about mushrooms...well, let's just say that after trying to identify these beauties I do know at least a tiny bit more than I did. Safe and accurate identification of mushrooms is tricky to say the least. #1...there are only a kazillion varieties out there #2...a surprising number of those varieties look very similar, with maybe just a slight variation meaning the difference between it being poisonous or not  #3...and if your not planning on eating it do you even need to know it's pedigree? Besides I have enough on my plate just trying to ID all of the other living things sharing this planet with me. I do appreciate the very descriptive and often whimsical common names that these fungi go by. Some of them cause me to wonder if perhaps the namer had perhaps consumed some 'extra special' mushrooms in the process. And, of course, I love to eat mushrooms, their rich earthy flavors excite my palate! But I think I'll stick to the store-bought varieties, at least for now.