a class of their own

After a recent hot hike in our Amazon-like woods, I realized we had a wider variety of wild mushrooms growing than I previously thought. I found them growing just about everywhere, including our lawn.

Out of curiosity, I tried to ID the ones I found recently with Google images. I also checked an online WI mushroom resource. The online site is as complex as mushrooms are, and none of what I found looked like an exact match. The rapidly evolving stages of a mushroom add to the challenge. They quickly pop up after a rain, and disappear just as fast. Here one day, gone the next.

If you are interested, take a look at my most recent 'shroomy finds: 

two lips

what I would name this mushroom, found growing in our lawn

(m. curly lushlipous)


two lips cousins?

perhaps the curled up edges are a survival stage, from a lack of water

found growing in the woods on a decaying oak
(broken branch)

I walked right over this tiny group of mushrooms
and turned back for a quick pic of their cuteness

they were maybe 2" high
huddled together all by themselves in the middle of a path

typical shape with cool edge coloring

Brad spotted these while he was mowing

I found a bunch of them last year, the tops get really red

look at the spongy yellow side on this big 'ol mushroom

I think it is the same as the mushroom above, but with the top sunk in

coolest mushroom find to date

enlarge to see the interesting detail on these tiny mushrooms!

I tried hard to ID this last one and found several possibilities
that say it is considered a delicacy

Mushrooms seem to be in a class of their own. I don't really need to ID them, I'll never remember the names. Unless they are common, like "two lips"!! They sure are fun to find and the detail/texture on them is amazing.