Mushroom Monday - New Fungi Finds and a Psychedelic Cicada

Here are a few #mushroommonday finds

First we start off with some ufos. They kind of remind me of velvet foot mushrooms aka winter mushrooms. But these were found in the summer and the stem is skinnier...

Here is what the gills look like. Nice and symmetrical and they don't touch the stem.

I also found some little ones just hiding away on a stump.

This one I know well.

These are Polyporus alveolaris aka hexagonal pored polypore.

These are another well known common mushroom. These are slightly old mica caps, very common around here.

Now for a strange bumpy solid black fungi. This is what is known as wood wart fungi and there are many varieties usually named after the species of tree it grows on. It looks the most like beech wood wart to me but I can't confirm it it was a birch tree or not... This fungi is not harmful to the tree and actually protects it from wood borer insects.

Now for a cool video I found today. This video is about a strange cicada fungi that mind controls cicadas that rots off their private parts. Then the cicadas act like a female wanting to mate and the male lands on the infected cicada and catches the fungi lol, pretty creepy. Another interesting feature of cicada fungi is that it is psychoactive to humans. Some varieties contain psilocybin and others contain amphetamine compounds... Soon you will see stoners eating cicadas in the forest lol.