Here are some red themed mushrooms for #fungifriday by @ewkaw
First we start out with lots of scarlet waxycaps aka Hygrocybe coccinea.
These bright little guys can be found in dark earth and mainly grow under dead leaves.
I found these last year in August after lots of rain and I only noticed a few of them.
But as I started pushing some of the dead leaves aside I found lots of them growing everywhere.
Next we have raspberry slime mold.
This grows in the summer heat after a rain on really decaying old wood.
The latin name is Tubifera ferruginosa it basically grows in little tubes at first then bloats up into a raspberry shape. I suspect slugs and snails spread the slime around. Who knows maybe it dries up into dust and spreads that way as well.
Here is a strange dark red bolete. This is Boletellus russellii aka Russell's bolete. The most interesting thing about this is it's rough red stem. This one's cap is small but they eventually bloom out into a typical bolete sized cap that is kind of orangy. This is edible and can be found under oak, pine and hemlock.
Here is Russula rosea aka Rosy Brittlegill. Some list it as edible but I'm not sure if it requires special cooking. It also looks like the slightly toxic Russula emetica which can give you a bad stomach ache. The main difference for identifying these is their rose color is on their stems as well as their caps and the gills are even slightly pink vs other red russula that only have red on their caps and have white gills and stems.
This reishi is more orange than red but as they dry out they can more reddish. This is a really good medicinal that has anti cancer properties as well as blood pressure lowering qualities. I drink a powdered reishi mix in my tea to get the health benefits. As for taste, by itself it just taste like sawdust so you better mix it with something that tastes good.
Here is an unidentified reddish purple mushroom. The slugs are loving it.
This is Xerocomellus chrysenteron aka red cracked bolete.
This is a younger version of the red cracked bolete. These are a tiny spindly bolete that has a thin stem and a bit foamy cap. I often find these being attacked by bolete killer fungus that turns them all white. Technically these boletes are edible but don't have any taste and their texture is slimy. Also I rarely find enough for a meal so I just enjoy them for their reddish color.
Finally we have a red banded polypore aka Fomitopsis pinicola. This is probably one of the most common mushrooms I find around here. Sadly these aren't edible and they don't have any medicinal properties. The best use you can find for these is to find large specimens of these and turn them into some kind of mushroom shelf fixture for the wall.
Sadly I have no red Amanita muscaria to show as they are super rare in my region. I only have yellow ones here. Europe is a much better place for finding the ultimate iconic red mushroom.
Happy #fungifriday