Saturday, August 15, 2009

2009-08-15 Saturday Fungus

Our willow oaks in the front yard threw some more limbs down at us last week and I finally got around to cleaning them up today. I took my trusty bow saw, cut them up and took them to the curb. During the course of my sawing I noticed some very pretty fungus growing on one of the logs and set it aside until I was finished and could get my camera.

I am familiar with all the lichen (photo), moss and fungi we have everywhere (we're even growing lichen on the concrete sidewalk), but I hadn't seen this species before. It looks like something you would expect to find on a coral reef, but there it was in our yard.

I'm constantly amazed without venturing beyond our 1/3 of an acre.

Coral-like fungus.


Detail of the middle.


Wider shot showing the immature ones (upper middle)
that are fuzzy and just starting to develop the ribbing.
Those green, grassy looking blades appear to be growing out of the fungus.

8 comments:

Max said...

Somebody help with a name, great shot. I have 100s of fungus shots and none like this. Very interesting.

Jerry said...

Wow, that stuff is awesome!!! I'll check our mushroom book when I get home tonight.

jbf said...

Max-
We have had some unique fungi this summer. I wish I could have snapped a picture of the red-orange "fingers" that were growing out of our pine bark mulch in June.

Jerry-
If you can pin a name on it that would be great!

Are we crazy for getting excited about fungus? At least I know I'm not alone. :^)

jbf said...

I found a picture of the red-orange "fingers". They are Mutinus elegans, aka "Stinkhorn". Another link here.

Jerry said...

Stinkhorns are fairly common in mulch piles. We get them every so often.

jbf said...

Jerry-
I'd just purchased some pine bark mulch at Lowe's and these totally alien-looking things poked up after the first rain. I had never encountered them before. Live and learn...

Jerry said...

Check out this one: http://orimath.blogspot.com/2008/03/strange-mushroom-zombie-hand.html

jbf said...

Wow! That is creepy looking. It's astounding what we can find in our respective backyards if we look.