Hello mushroom people! 🍄
First post on here- my little brother found a mushroom today and we're hoping figure out what it is. It isn't one I'm already familiar with (I'm a complete fungi novice haha), so I poked around and thought I'd ask some experts on here!
Location is middle TN. Environment is a clear grassy lawn, with the shroom cluster sprouting from where an old Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) stump was ground down a few years back. Several other little brown mushrooms were nearby as well.
The mushroom grew in a single cluster, and the whole body was about a foot & a half across. The caps were soft and spongy, with a pleasantly silky feel to the tops. No obvious scales/ hairs present. The surface had a glossy, almost metallic sheen in the sunlight. Color was a warm beige on top, and a paler cream underneath.
Individual shroom (the rightmost one in first photo) measured about 5 inches in length, 4 1/2 inches in width, and 2 1/2 inches in height.
When cut, the texture was solid but soft, and it gave off a somewhat pungent earthy/ fishy smell. We're waiting on a spore print now, so hopefully we can check that off tomorrow as well. EDIT: spore print came back an off-white/ cream color.
My brother looked through his books/ iNat and we think this might be a Shoehorn Oyster mushroom (maybe Hohenbuehelia petaloides?). That seems plausible to me, but I'm no mycologist! Anybody got any thoughts/ ideas? 🍁 (Also, is this thing edible? He keeps asking me that one, so I figured I'd ask around for more opinions before he gives himself liver failure or something.)
