[On the cusp of September & October 1999
four specimens returned to the berm.] |
MUTINUS
ELEGANS
This voluntary & wild mushroom
springs up where leaves have been
gathered, heaped,
& left to rot,
on the western flank of the
'Bee Berm',
which derives its name from the
fact that
it rises on rotting logs from the
'Bee Tree',
a hollowed black oak
that once did house bees,
but they providentially departed
well before
Hurricane Bob split the twin oak
wide open
& left the logs.
The botanical name derives,
through taxonomy both learned &
metaphorical,
from the Latin Mutinus,
'Roman god of matrons',
& elegans, 'dainty,
choosy, nice'. |