Fungi Friday: Nature's Rudest Mushroom (and Other Fungi Finds)

A walk in the woods can bring many strange surprises. On my last walk, I looked closely at the trees and the ground and found three mushrooms.

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​The first ones I found were a couple of Stinkhorns. These mushrooms looked very silly and a bit rude! Nature definitely had a great sense of humour when creating them. They get their name because they smell terrible. The bad smell attracts flies. The spores stick to the flies, who then help spread them to create more stinkhorns. I decided I wasn't going to get that close to find out how bad they stank.

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​The second ones I came across were quite big and flat, growing on the side of a mossy tree. I think these are called Dryad’s Saddle, though I'm never entirely sure. They looked just like big fans or shelves. You can't see it very well in the photo, but this type of mushroom has a really pretty pattern on top.

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​The last one I spotted was a hard, dark mushroom growing on a wet log. I'm still not quite sure what it is, as Google Lens kept giving me lots of different suggestions! It's quite frustrating how technology struggles with nature sometimes. One minute the app tells me it is a bracket fungus, and the next minute it suggests something completely different.

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​It is amazing what you can spot when you slow down and pay attention to what is around you. This one actually had a few flies sitting right on top of it, which made me think back to those Stinkhorns from earlier. Usually, I just walk right past the old logs and tree trunks, but this time I decided to do a proper search as there aren't many fungi around lately. Looking for fungi is like a treasure hunt, whether you want to pick the edible ones or not. Next time you go for a walk, look down at the grass and up at the trees. You might find something too. Don’t be shocked though, if you come across the Stinkhorn. 😃

#fungifriday initiated by @ewkaw.