Fungus Among--us

Meanwhile the rains and humidity have provided a wonderful world of beautiful fungi/mushrooms. I'm going to just ID these with common names as I could be off with their true identity.

According to 'Google Lens' and one of my ID books, these should be Cany Caps fungi. They are similar to another kind of mushroom, however you have to look at cellular structure and spore prints. I did smell them and they did smell sort of sweet.

I can't believe my luck in finding these. I had walked through a few other places where I always find mushrooms and fungi. I found plenty of deer but not cool fungi.

So, I took a detour to a different section where I usually don't find fungi and was surprised by the amount of cool mushrooms and slime mold I was able to find.

I don't recall seeing any mushrooms in this section of the forest in the past few years of drought. So I imagine the spores have just been waiting for heat and humid conditions.

This fall ought to produce a magnificent showing of fungi.

I couldn't believe my eyes. In a small area, everywhere I looked I saw these.

Angel of Death Mushroom.

Destroying Angel

But.... according to certain sources these are only supposed to grow on the west coast of the US. I am sort of confused because I can't find any other white mushroom that looks like this.

I still think it is a cool looking mushroom. It was easy to spot in the forest and they grew in singles or very small clumps of two near each other.

I'm just going to be safe and obviously not eat them. There are very few wild ones I can identify safely, this is not one of them.

They are quite beautiful though. Pure white with a stunning shape.

I couldn't help but use them in a Rock Monster photo. It seems like Zombies and Monsters would like such a mushroom.

Then there were many spots of 'False Coral Fungi' aka known as Sebacina which don't grow on wood but on forest floor litter. I found so many specimens.

This one was the cleanest.

The Lego Zombies thought it was great too.

Why not get some for supper?
Not that I'd try it, but apparently it doesn't hurt skeletons.

There was so many of them in this little area that I was able to shoot in several spots. 

A vampire knight seems to be happy in this bunch of older fungi.

The mornings have been foggy and of course damp. The past two mornings have been cool along with a heavy dew. Even the flower beds are sprouting little fungi families.

These are more than likely 'Common Ink Caps'. The appear and quickly spore and shrivel up.

Don't eat the mushrooms...at least I don't even try unless it is something I definitely know is safe.

I wonder if the dinosaurs were told to be careful???

Gee, I don't know.

Fungi Fun Guy!

Well I think these are Boletes that look like they have seen better days. 

I found these not far from an old tall oak in our forest that has a racoon den in its top.

Remember the ones I said were Wolf Farts? These are the same ones a few days later.

So I think some fungi are only beautiful when they are just coming out of the ground. 

I thought I'd found Turkey Fan Fungi. But no I didn't!

The Scientific name I believe is: Daedaleopsis confragosa. 
Try to say that a few times quickly. I can't.

I prefer a common name like Blushing Bracket [if it turns red], another name is Thin mazed flat polypore. 

That doesn't sound very memorable either.

I'm just going to call it .. the Fake Turkey Fan Fungi.

The Turkey Fan Fungi.

Scientific name: Trametes versicolor

I found this about 200 feet from the other one. Last year, this log had a different kind of fungi on it and at the base of the tree where half the tree is sort of alive.

I found white jelly fungi all over one section of our woods. Some of the pieces were rather large and looked like the common jelly fungi of Witch's Butter but pure white.

I like the common name which is easy to remember.

Snow Fungus.

Scientific name: Tremella fuciformis

Apparently this is 'good' stuff which has anti-inflammatory properties. Um. Still not sure I'd go with eating this. You can purchase different forms of this fungi to eat, to take as a pill, or to use on your skin.

I know there is so much we don't know about what is growing around us.

Then I found this which was aged and old. Curious that I first thought someone had left some material in the woods.

I have no clue what it might be. Obviously it grew a long time ago and turned black.

Fungi/mushrooms are very short lived. The following is some sort of Japanese Umbrella fungi, I think. I found it at 8 am when I headed out to check the fences.

I returned to look at it after I'd done chores and picked sweet corn.
In two hours, it looked like this....

These fungi/molds/mushrooms are constantly changing.

I consider myself extremely lucky to find them as they Pupawee. That is a Potowatami word for Emerge or Passage. 

Here are some more slightly ugly looking fungi, but I found them quite beautiful in the way they were grouped and in all different stages of their short lives.

Ink caps

I took a series of photos of one type of fungi that I think is pretty interesting. I found them when they were fresh and glistening. I took photos in a series of days to see what they looked like when they were done with their job. I won't put it here today but will save it for another time.

After 4.5 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, I'm headed out to check out the woods once more and see what will surprise me.

I leave you with this Fun Guy. 

One of my tiny soldiers sitting on an Oyster Mushroom.