Fungi Friday - A few different discoveries over the past couple years.

I perused through some of my backed up mushroom hunting pictures for this #fungifriday by @ewkaw

First I finally discovered the true name of this oyster mushroom. The latin name is Panellus serotinus and they call it Little Olive or Late Olive as it comes out usually around November of the year. It tends to have an olive drab brown cap. These are a nice edible and taste just like any other oyster mushroom.

I also finally figured out the name of this strange mushroom.

This mushroom is called Thelephora palmata aka Stinking Earthfan. They call it the Stinking Earthfan because it has a sort of rotten smell. These aren't poisonous but are definitely not suitable for eating because of the smell. They also have a deep root system almost like a plant and are really tough in texture. As they get older they turn into a brownish gray color then dry up into a really tough woody sort of texture.

I wasn't able to properly identify this little gilled mushroom growing out of the side of a dead branch. It has many similar features to an oyster mushroom but it has no stem and is very tiny compared to an oyster mushroom.

Here is a group of Mycena pseudoinclinata. There are many different types of mycena out there. Some are edible while some have mild toxins in them. All of them have a mealy taste to them so they aren't worth much for culinary purposes unless you are in survival mode in the forest.

This is exidia glandulosa aka black jelly roll. This is a bland edible good for soups. I rarely find enough of it to make enough of a meal out of it. You can harvest it and dry it out for use later. It basically dries to a paper thin black flake that's easy to store in a mason jar. Once you acquire enough of it then you can throw it in a soup and it will rehydrate and expand.

I found a few more pictures of my favorite edible mushroom, crown tipped coral aka Artomyces pyxidatus. This is such a tasty mushroom with a good texture. The only problem is finding enough of it at just the right time out in the wild. I may have missed this year's season as it tends to grow early spring. I searched high and low for it but the weather was a bit strange, we had a really cold spring so it probably never got a chance to grow. Another problem with this mushroom is if you find it too late then it gets bitter to the taste.

Happy #fungifriday :-)