Flowerpot Parasol

Flower pot Parasol (Leucocoprinus birnbaumii). I must always find out what it is, whether a plant or animal that I’ve encountered on a trail or, as in this case, something that mysteriously popped up alongside one of my orchids. That’s just how my brain works. I love a mystery and must get an answer. This answer has the perfect and most clever name. The Flower Pot Parasol.

My orchid lives outside during summers, and surely a local mushroom just popped in to take up residence. But after checking things out on the Internet that seems not to be the case.

I would never expect to find a mushroom growing with one of my potted plants, but here it is. And I’m told this particular one is the most common to show up in this way, in a pot, thanks to green houses and potting soil. Normally it grows in the wild in tropical and subtropical regions. Mystery solved and I’m feeling lucky to have a Flowerpot Parasol.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.