I Hap'd Upon A Fairy Ring!

On my travels to and fro

Not traveled once but time and agin'

not noticed when passed by before

I hap'd upon a fairy ring.

My poetry is really bad I know, but I couldn't resist when I looked up information on fairy rings and found out how many time they had been mentioned in literature through the years.On my way home the other day, I passed by the hospital and noticed an unusual phenomenon.A beautiful fairy ring of mushrooms in a spot that I had passed by many time before and not noticed. According the information, they don't just pop up all of a sudden they are formed ove many years and can grow to great widths. The oldest one known to exist is in England and is over 800 m across and 700 years old.

In the photo above you can see the ring as it appears during the normal season. If you look real hard you can see an even larger one in the background. The dark grass is formed on the outside perimeter of the ring and is called the death ring. They are usually formed during a very dry season ( which we have had this year). The inside of the ring contains the mycelium which is the fairy fungus that spreads out like long tenticles underneath the ground ending at the necrotic zone or death ring.

The ring above is found in Namibia in Africa. These are fairly new occurences which scientists are trying to figure out their causes. Some have even suggested they were caused by radioactivity but soil sampling have proved negative. They are still trying to figure it out as we speak.
This is a forest fairy ring. I was just reading about a fairy ring in the state of Oregan that is believed to be over 2200 years old and could cover over 1600 football fields. But with the intrusion of logging and homes it has all but disappeared. Sad!!
And now, this is my fairy ring. If you look real close you can see the dark ring, just inside the mushroom circle. The mushrooms are a fungus which grows mostly on dead or dying things, hense the death ring. Sadly, the next day it was gone ( they cut the grass). Fairy rings are mentioned numerous times in European literature and lore. It was believed to step inside a fairy ring brought certain death in some form or another. But I just think they are a phenomenon worth a few words of mention. Thanks for stopping by. Jen