I'm away from home this week for my first deer hunt. I have been less than successful in that endeavor but spending so much time in the soggy late autumn woods has provided ample new mushrooms. I'm writing this on my phone as well as all the pics are also from my phone so apologies for the quality and formatting.
The first two photos are the gorgeous and tiny Schizophyllum commune. I was so excited to find them that I WHOOPED out loud. Good thing I was just wandering trying to drive out hiding deer. I've only seen photos of them and they're so striking. I didn't have my DSLR but my phone did pretty well.
Third photo is Tremella mesenterica or Witch's Butter. It is a jelly fungus and is apparently edible if that's the kind of thing you'd like to put in your mouth.
The fourth photo is a large nifty bracket fungus called Fomitopsis ochracea.
Fifth is a nifty one called Fomes fomentarius aka Hoof fungus or Tinder fungus. This one is nifty because it was one of two mushrooms, along with Piptoporus betulinus (birch polypore), found in the pouch of the 4000 year old "Ötzi the Iceman". It was thought to have been used for tinder.
The last photo is a tiny fungus called Phleogena faginea, the Fenugreek Stalkball. Apparently, it smells like fenugreek. I didn't sniff it but I also have no idea what fenugreek smells like so not sure if that would have aided in my ID.
I'll be back out there tomorrow and next week for the deer, if there's any left. I promise I'll spare you gorey hunting photos but I may have more shrooms to share!
