From Dome to Dinner Plate: How a Toadstool Grows Up

The fly agaric in this photo is near the end of its short life above ground. Its cap has opened all the way out into a flat, plate-like disc, a very different shape from the tight, rounded dome it started as.

A few days, start to finish

A mushroom is the fruiting body of a much larger organism, and it doesn't last long. A fly agaric emerges looking like a small white egg, rounds into a red dome over a day or two, then flattens as it matures so its gills are exposed to the air and can shed spores as widely as possible. Older caps can even turn up at the edges like a shallow bowl.

Beautiful, and poisonous

That vivid red is a fair warning. Fly agaric is toxic and shouldn't be eaten, however much it looks like it belongs in a storybook. Enjoy it with a camera and leave it where it grows; it's doing important work for the trees around it.

Small companions

Low to the ground, the frame fills up with things you'd walk straight past: wood sorrel's clover-like leaves, fern fronds, pine needles and dry twigs. Getting down to mushroom height turns that clutter into a little woodland stage set.