FAIRY RING: MOIST WEATHER BRINGS RARE SIGHT

When Edna Scheeter stepped outside Wednesday morning she was greeted by a fairy ring, a perfect circle of mushrooms that sprouted in her lawn overnight.

The ring measures 24 feet across and has more than 130 mushroom caps.

She and her husband, Herb, live on Highway 74 near Dutchtown.

"We've lived here 42 years and never seen it before," said Scheeter. "I've seen two or three mushrooms come up in the lawn but nothing like this."

However, every spring the Scheeters have noticed a small circle of grass, 8 inches across, that is much darker than the grass around it. The circle of grass is near the center of this fairy ring.

"We always wondered about that patch," Scheeter said. "It's like it was fertilized, but it never has been."

A.J. Hendershott, education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said a fairy ring is a rare event, especially in a lawn.

Hendershott said the damp, dreary weather conditions helped bring out the ring. Weather conditions have to be just right for the plant to send up the mushroom caps.

A fairy ring is actually one mushroom fungus living underground and headquartered in the center of the ring. When the weather is wet enough, the fungus will send up mushroom caps on the peripheral edge, forming the ring.

The caps live a short time, just long enough to produce spores. But hot, dry weather will kill the caps early. If the weather changes, the fairy ring will disappear as quickly as it appeared. Today's forecast for continued cloudiness and a chance for rain is good news for the fairy ring.

"You don't see them very often," Hendershott said, "and they are usually found in the woods. You don't see them in someone's yard very often."

The fairy ring's next appearance is difficult to predict. The fungus can lie underground for a long time, Hendershott said. "But each time you see it, it will be the same size or larger," he said.

Fairy rings have been measured at more than 200 feet in diameter. These are thought to be more than 300 years old.

The World Book encyclopedia says people in ancient times thought the rings were footprints left by fairies dancing at night. The mushrooms that appeared were thought to be seats on which the tired fairies sat.

Legend said fairies, which are usually invisible to people, are sometimes visible to people who step inside the fairy ring.

The legend also said if you stand inside a fairy ring and make a wish, the wish will come true.

"I wish I'd seen it yesterday," Sheeter said. "I would have wished for the lottery."