The early fall rains have brought out the fungi for this #fungifriday
Look at this spiked hairdoo with a bunch of brown spores around it.
This is a strange form of slime mold. You can see little brittle stems holding up what was the tube slime at the top.
Since it looks like its dropping cocoa powder around the base the common name is Chocolate Tube Slime Mold with a Latin name of Stemonitis splendens. This is easy to overlook but I often find it on fallen hardwood logs out in the forest. I have yet to find a shiny new batch.
Here is an unidentified gray mushroom growing next to the chocolate tube slime mold. I've searched high and low for what this might be... It kind of reminds me of an elm oyster in shape and texture but the rough gray cap throws it off.
Now for a forest of LBMs. These grew, then dried out then got wet again. I'm not sure what they are as little brown mushrooms all look the same.
Here is a balloon hand stuffed inside a tree.
Two days later after some rain it has started hatching large caps.
Look at the pores underneath. These are Dryad's Saddle a polypore mushroom with a Latin name of Cerioporus squamosus formerly known as Polyporus squamosus. This small size is the perfect time to harvest them.
Eventually they grow super large. At this size you can only eat the outer edge as they get really tough and spongy.
I like to batter them tempura style then dip them into sweet and sour sauce. They have a hint of watermelon rind taste to them so adding a bit of sweet dipping sauce really helps accentuate their mushroom tase. These grow both in spring and in fall and are fairly easy to find when you can't find morels or chanterelles.
That's all for now, thanks for looking :-)