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I.D. Request


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I have three pics. It's very small and was growing in a semi-cluster inside of a large decaying tree trunk. It appears the compost is more decaying tree than it is soil. The specimen on the paper is placed next to a half eaten hard boiled egg. The other two are pics of the specimen in its original environment and a picture of the tree trunk itself. I'm not sure what the plastic thing sticking out of it is.

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I think you should try to photograph a harvested specimen in natural light. Try a few different lighting schemes... filtered sunlight, shade but near a brightly lit area. A cloudy day is perfect. Include a coin for size comparison. The photo of the small gray fruit bodies inside the stump is real good. Those look very interesting! If you continue to get rainfall, then they should mature into something more recognizable.

One thing that comes to my mind is Daldinia (Carbon Balls). But the posed photo seems to show a whitish (possibly chambered) interior, which does not support this ID proposal. Xylaria is another possibility.In particular, Xylaria polymorpha (Dead Man's Fingers) looks like a possibility.

Let's see what happens with these.

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I'll play around with the camera settings on the iPad. Here's a pic of one that I picked from the other side of the tree stump. The photo doesn't capture its Aqua shade. Also this was picked from what looked like a very small smooth-rounded hand-like structure'd cluster with individual stems. Also this one has a black thick very dense spongy interior where-as the ones in the first post had a white interior. I'll leave this guy on the paper and see if I can get a spore print.

Also I'll just give this thing a couple days. I searched images of young specimen of the ones you mentioned and they don't seem to be right. The fungi I photographed are very young, so I'll keep a eye on it. There's plenty of moisture right now so what ever it is, it will grow. The tree trunk is very close to the house and the fungi inside appear very young and are well protected.

The black color in this photo is the flesh of the mushroom cut in half, not dirt. It might be a different species than the ones in the first pic. Their interior was white. This one, black. This one has a mild smoky smell along with its mild fungus-like smell. The more I think about it, the more details pop up. Like I said it's well protected and it's sprinkling outside right now in a cool temp and I'll check on it tomorrow and over the course of the next few days.

Last thing about the specimen in this pic is that the white-grey top side has a very mild Aqua like shade, like the mushrooms in the first pic, it's very mild, for written discription's sake, but plane as day in person. The phioto doesn't capture it.

&&&&another edit.

The one in the first pic next to the boiled egg looks similar to pics of dead man's fingers. But, like I said, what ever this is is very young.

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They do appear to be different. Had a good rain last night so they're both growing strong. I'll wait a few more days, then photograph them again. I will say that the one with the black interior has a very pleasant smell. Mild, smoky, and clean. I'm not going to eat it, obviously, since I don't know what it is. Also the gray, white, and Aqua/ sea foam green colors on both of these mushrooms is beautiful. I'll try to capture it next time I take pics.

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Okay, so far they look the same but appear to have grown a millimeter or so, and there are some others popping up too. Nothing significant or worth photographing yet.

I have found another new species and i expect to find more as the woods behind my parents' house is a fungus paradise. So, instead of posting new threads for every find, I'm going to condense them so i don't push other threads off the front page. This will also force me to do my own research.

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I agree, X. polymorpha looks like a good proposal. Mushroom Expert mentions the bluish tinge on the young fruit bodies, which I believe I see on the latest photo. You had mentioned the "aqua" tint, Newhunter.

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The three main xylaria species that I've "Google researched" appear to have young asexual, sporing, fruiting bodies that look similar, but the base of the polymorpha has a wide base but the others, like the longipes have a thin base. This specimen has doubled in size since this photograph. It's still only about a centimeter tall though.

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New pic of the xylaria. This is one weak after the last photo. There are about twenty bodies altogether, most of them very small. The picture doesn't capture the real dimensions of these mushrooms because of the awkward positioning of the camera inside the tree stump. They are actually thinner and taller than they appear in the photo. The largest one just to the left of the nickel is actually about two and a half centimeters tall. And, all of the bodies appear to have a rising black ring around the base. It doesn't extend from the rest of the body, it's just a change in color. This could have been present before though and I just didn't notice it. I read that it's believed there could be up to five different species classified as xylaria polymorp ha. There is a term for it that I don't remember.

The second photo is of the one with the pitch black interior and pleasant, smoky scent. It doesn't have a cap or base and it only extends about a centimeter at most away from the tree, I think. I'm just letting it grow for now. If someone could give me a hint as to what family this specimen could be a part of, I could do some reasearch of my own. Thanks.

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Mushroom Expert mentions that Xylaria polymorpha represents a species complex. So I guess it's unlikely that we settle whether or not your Dead Man's Fingers are the true X. polymorpha or some cryptic species. I don't know the microscopic features used to differentiate within this species cluster.

The other observation appears to show a crust fungus. I think Kretzschmaria deusta is a possibility.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think the second one is volvariella bombycina. I have a pic of the top of the caps in natural light. Forgot about a size reference. The largest caps were six inches wide. Thsee were quite a surprise as I watched the volva grow for abut a week, thinking they were some kind of a polypore, then I didn't check on them for about a day and a half and this happened.

I just picked the mushrooms in the first pic. They smell like some kind of fresh wild soft fruit nectar, very sweet and pleasent. Once again, no size reference. From base to top of cap, they are two inches. Also, the texture is rubbery and delicate. Reminds me of a gourmet mushroom that I've purchased at a grocery store before.

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Second pic is a top view of the proposed volvariella from my last post on the first page. First pic is a complete mystery to me, as i have not researched it, but a good mushroom photo imo, thanks to the rocket scientists who invented cameras and smart phones and such.

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Two posts back... Second one is very likely Volvariella bombycina. Found growing on a tree, I assume. First one... I'm pretty sure it's a white-spored mushroom. If found on the ground, then possibly a species of Clitocybe. Some Clitocybes are fragrant, some are dangerously poisonous. Do you have a photo of the upper surfaces of the caps?

Most recent post, after the Volvariella, Looks like a Pholiota. Maybe P. aurivella. Brown spore print.

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Top pic of the possible clitocybe. I rinsed it with water and storEd it in the fridge so it's more shiny/wet than it was when I found it. Don't worry, I'm not going to eat it unless I know what it is.

Edit, the specimen is 50% closer to white/pearl than how it appears in that pic.

Second edit, closer to 100 percent. It is 90% pearl with a dull, pale, salmon tinge. The first pic is reprisentitive of the color of the specimen.

And yes, it was found on the ground.

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I can't say with high certainty --terrestrial white spored gilled mushrooms include lots of possibilities-- but I think these are a species of Clitocybe. This is a type of mushroom that you definitely should NOT eat. Do not experiment. Some white Clitocybes are dangerously poisonous.

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