"If you know a little about what to look for and where, searching for new species can become a routine activity," Ploompuu said.

"Some speeches were being delivered at Tornimäe, and as I glanced down, there it was," he recalled. "Not on purpose. But I always keep a bit of an eye out and on the forest."

The preliminary identification of the mushrooms as Parasola kuehneri is still awaiting confirmation through additional lab analysis.

Ploompuu, a botany and mycology teacher at TLÜ, noted that scientists' knowledge of smaller mushrooms such as this one is quite limited, both in Estonia and in Europe more broadly.

"Based on available and accessible descriptions, I feel pretty confident in this ID, but genetic verification will take time," he added. The verification process will be handled by researchers from the University of Tartu (TÜ).

Even then, however, there is no guarantee that a definitive conclusion will be reached. IDing a species requires a reference sample, and if it has only been documented based on a few specimens, there may simply be insufficient foundational data to go by.

For anyone whose mouth may be watering at the thought of this mushroom discovery, there's likely no need.

"As far as I know, there's nothing seriously toxic among this group of ink caps," the botanist acknowledged. "The challenge lies in getting enough flavor out of it – you'd have to work on it for several days!"

He emphasized, however, that many mushrooms do contain small amounts of toxic substances, and that isolating and identifying these requires lab analysis as well.

Looking ahead, Ploompuu speculated that plenty more mushroom species remain to be discovered in Estonia.

"Finding small mushrooms involves a lot of challenges," he admitted. "But if you know how to look, you could discover new species for Estonia's list of mushrooms."

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