Tiny Mushroom Forest

In my backyard, I have a corner designated as a little rock garden. Ever since I was young, I've had a rock collection. Oh how I love different color rocks, pieces of the earth in every imaginable color!
Anyway, to give my rock corner some interest I have added a tree stump to add height in this area. On this stump I sometimes add bird seed for the birds to feast upon.
Look what I found growing on top of my tree stump.....


Ohhh, it's my own mushroom forest!


Now, I don't like to eat them as you might know, but I sure do thing they're pretty interesting!
I counted at least 17. There may be more growing in the crack! Isn't that amazing? I only wish I placed a penny next to the mushrooms so you can get a better perspective of how tiny these guys were!

Amazing things come in small packages!

Mystery Solved

This is a stick that I found on the ground about a week ago. I just think it's cool. The dark bark is due to the stick being saturated by rain, I like how the bright white and tan colors of the growth contrast the darks on the stick.


That's some set of teeth you got there Mr. Stick! Close up pictures always reveal something amazing.

Do you remember this picture a few posts ago?


I was fascinated by the color of these mushrooms, wondering if the green was the mushroom taking on the color of the moss or if they were just green mushrooms. Well, Cestoady brought up an intelligent fact that perhaps it's algae growing on the mushrooms and not any of the above reason I had wondered. Very interesting!

I happened to ask David Fischer with www.americanmushrooms.com who co-wrote, Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America and Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, and asked him about my "very smart person's" (Cestoady) comment.

Here is David's Responce:

"The mushrooms appear to be a Trametes or, less likely, a Stereum (I can't tell without seeing a very tight close-up of the undersurface). Your very smart person is correct: the green is caused by algae that are using the mushroom as a substrate."

Neat!

Great job Cestoady for your correct response and thank you to David Fisher who took the time to review my question!
Mystery solved.

Mossy Mushroom

This is a picture I took of a decomposing log when I went hiking at Country Lane Woods last week. The green caught my eye right away. I didn't realize that despite the cool temps, moss can still thrive. I think these are a type of polypore mushrooms (growing off of wood) I don't know exactly which kind but I've seen them before. I've seen them many times before but they were brown. These mushrooms have green in them. Does it have to do with the moss? Are they taking on the color of the moss? Very strange. This is a question for supermushroom-man or woman! Unfortunately that's not me.

Very interesting web site on mushrooms: David Fischer's American Mushrooms

Very interesting posts on mushrooms: Winterwoman's A Passion for Nature

Go shrooming around!

Srooms at Spears

I love when srooms attack a decaying log. I don't even know why.
They are beautiful, you know, with their darker gray colored rings. Can you see them?
Maybe they're a little mysterious...conditions must be right, why did they choose this section to attach to and not another, and why are they on this log and not the one next to it?

Maybe I just appreciate the job they need to do. Nothing goes to waist in nature. After the tree dies, it becomes food for a host of animals and birds, even shelter for larger animals as shown in the post a few days ago. When the tree collapse, these mushroom break down the tree's matter to speed up the decaying process so this tree can become nutrients to the ground.

This log also had some woodpecker holes in it. Wow, two attacks on one log and I'm sure a billion others under the microscope!

Poison Autumn

Yesterday I painted this poisonous mushroom three times. When you don't succeed the first time, try, try again. Well I guess three's a charm, because I finally got it. Like I've said before, "You don't control the watercolors, the watercolors control you." The trick is to make it look airy and light and my previous attempts were much too overworked. We don't like anything overworked.
My inspiration for this painting was from a photo that Kurt took of this mushroom he found by his cottage in Wisconsin this autumn. He is a very talented photographer!
I am in the process or redesigning my web site, hopefully by the end of this week it will be up and running. This painting will be for sale on the new site.
PS Don't eat this mushroom!!!

Fungus Among Us

This is a Stinkhorn Mushroom of the Mutinus Caninus kind. It grows happily in my garden. Several of them actually. Despite what you may think, I like them, I don't mind if they like my garden even though they actually do stink as their name states. I know this because you cannot just tell me they stink, yes, I must find out for myself, gross as it may sound, however, I do not eat mushrooms, I do not like the taste or their rubbery texture. Yuck. Mushrooms are very attractive looking though, growing on the forest floor or like this one, in my garden.

Let learn about the Stinkhorn:
Very common in the Chicago area
Grows from a white egg shape capsule, mine was underground
They really do stink
Brown slime on top contains spores which attach to flies and insects and travels to reproduce
It really is slimy, I checked
Not harmful to any gardens or grasses

My infestation of stinkhorn may have come from the mulch I purchased for my garden or from the slimy feet of a visiting fly. In any case, I don't mind, by afternoon the sun shrivels them up and they disappear faster than they came. An interesting part of nature.