Egghead Mottlegill
There’s a beautiful domed fungus on this lump of poo on Dartmoor. Naturally I have to pick it up and have a good look at it. It’s an Egghead Mottlegill, Panaeolus semiovatus.
![Egghead Mottlegill - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Egghead-Mottlegill-The-Hall-of-Einar-0814-725x544.jpg)
Panaeolus means variegated, because of the mottled gills underneath the cap. Semiovatus means half an egg. It’s Half-an-egg-head Mottlegill.
Here it is from James Sowerby’s classic Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms from 1797.
Time for a sandwich now, just as soon as I’ve wiped my hands.