The Shelves are Bare

in Fungi Lovers2 years ago

Happy #MushroomMonday, here's what fungal friends I could find over the weekend:

Still no sign of mushroom activity. Today I went to hike around a local wildlife refuge and discovered no sign any mushrooms. At all. I discovered some crust fungi on some logs but other than that there wasn't much sign of fungal life. However, 2 shelf fungi saved the day from being a total strikeout. I'll take it what I can get.

The first was this big hunk of whiteness that stood out immediately to me as I scanned the forest floor. It was at the base of a maple tree which was still living.
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Here it is in situ.

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From the top of the cap it reminded me of a 'white cheese polypore'.

But since it was the only game in town, I stopped and took a closer look. Underneath I discovered it was a toothed fungi actually! I took the following shots lying prone on the ground.

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Closer view of the tooth structures which are the reproductive surface.

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I'm not sure exactly what this is. I was thinking a youngish Northern Tooth but how close to the ground is throwing me off. I read that Northern Tooth does prefer Sugar Maple trees though this was a Red Maple I believe. Usually I see Northern Tooth higher up but maybe it just depends on where the tree is injured. Let me know what you think.

The second shelf fungi was a little Oak Mazegill (Daedalea quercina) on some dead hardwood logs. Assuming the log was an old oak (Quercus) thus the quercina. The forest was adjacent to a large wetland and was mostly oaks, maples, and beech.

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The wavy long pores are very cool looking. Not too common on polypores.

The next day I was only able to find some Agaricus field mushrooms growing on a watered field and some Milky Conecaps.
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So that was my little foray today. Thanks for checking out my #MushroomMonday post!

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Oak mazegill, indeed, look not very common and splendid, in terms of macro photo :D
Forests are not overcrowded indeed, but they are not empty on other hand, hehe. Today I noticed a sprout (very little, just the edge of a white egg popping out) of the first Amanita in this season (i know, its Amanita muscaria, cause they grow every year on same spot).

Nice. I've never found A. muscaria! Would love to find some in the wild. Autumn is around the corner too and that's mushroom season 😁 Just got to wait...

a few days ago I also found such a mushroom. You have managed to take some good pictures.

Thank you!

I'm pretty sure that you are correct on your ID for the first mushroom. It is a bit unusual to find it growing so close to the ground, but it does look like a Northern Tooth (Climacodon septentrionalis) to my eye as well.

Thanks for the confirmation. Yea I thought it was strange how low it was. The only other Northern Tooth I've seen in person was eye level and absolutely huge!

tooth.jpeg

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