Autumn in the dunes - searching for special fungi

Autumn is the most beautiful season for a walk through nature to admire mushrooms. You can also find beautiful mushrooms on the beach along the dune foot. Where the marram grass starts to grow in the first row of dunes, the foredune, we encounter mushrooms with names like dune field mushroom, dune ink cap, dune psilocybe, sand parasol mushroom, dune knight mushroom, dune brittlestem, and coral fungus. All species that grow on or between the marram grass. Dune brittlestem The dune brittlestem is a gilled mushroom with a grayish-brown cap and black-brown spores. The species can be found everywhere where marram grows. The dune brittlestem loves bare sand and is therefore easy to find. The species lives on dead roots and other organic components in the soil. Dune stinkhorn A striking mushroom is the dune stinkhorn, with an intense smell that attracts flies. When the dune stinkhorn emerges above the dune sand, a pink-discoloring egg-shaped body appears first: the devil's egg. When this ‘egg’ breaks open, the mushroom appears. The top slowly changes into a black-green slime mass containing the spores (small seeds) that are spread by flies. Sand tulip The sand tulip can be found on the bare sand in the dunes. The warm-brown mushroom is initially spherical with a small opening. Later, the mushroom opens and the edge of the opening tears radially. The opened mushroom indeed resembles a brown tulip.