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Large Mushroom, but well past prime


Beech tree

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This might be a difficult one considering how aged it is, but perhaps you guys might be able to identify just on it's size. This is probably the largest mushroom I've spotted so far since I started to take note of them.

I came across this mushroom in early January just two feet away from what I believe was an oak tree. It appeared to be growing out of the ground and was of such a large circumference it even had some decent sized sticks stuck through it. By eye I would say it was a little over a foot in diameter and over half a foot high. The underside of the mushroom was toothed and white/yellowish brown in color. The fruiting bodies grew up and then out, drooping over one another. The bottom fruiting had a greenish white print left on them.

largemush.jpg

largemush2.jpg

largemush3.jpg

largemush4.jpg

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As you suggest, likely too old/deteriorated for a confident ID proposal. But, nonetheless an interesting find. My guess is this has been in the spot where it was found for quite awhile, possibly months. If I'm interpreting the photo correctly, then the hymenium (underside) is composed of tooth-like projections. This could be because when the fruit body was healthy and approaching maturity it had this type of hymenium. Or, it could be that this fruit body is a type of polypore for which the walls composing the tubes (that terminate in the pores) elongate over time. This is not all that unusual for a variety of polypores. 

If this mushroom has  truly tooth-like hymenium then my best guess is that it represents a species of genus Hydnellum. H. spongiosipes is a species that features fairly long spines on the undersides of the caps http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hydnellum_spongiosipes.html. It is an oak associate. 

Another type of "toothed" mushroom that forms fused clusters of dense-fleshed fruit bodies is genus Phellodon. But these types tend to have very short spines. 

Cerioporus squamosus (aka Polyporus squamosus) forms clusters of large mushrooms that may persist in-situ for extended periods and the pores may become elongated. But it would be very unusual for this species to fruit on the ground, even if there is buried wood. 

If anything else comes to mind, I'll revisit this discussion. 

 

 

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Thanks Dave, I returned to inspect it more closely and I'm not sure if this mushroom was even toothed originally. The bottom portion  looks as if it could have been gilled. That being said it almost looks like the largest and I'm presuming oldest parts of it had tooth projections so it's possible those were teeth that hadn't elongated yet. It was also closer to the tree than I remember, just a foot away. I rolled it over and it does appear it was growing out of the ground and not an exposed root. It did engulfed a fair large number of sticks, nuts and other forest flotsam underneath it though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I noticed that many mushrooms become hard when they age, but this mushroom was very soft and moist. I read that Abortiporus biennis oozes liquid when fresh. Would this liquid effect it's decomposition and make it more moist and possibly lend credence to the idea that it's Abortiporus biennis?

If I return in the upcoming fall or summer is it likely that it regrow in the same place? Considering that state it's in I think that's the only way it'll ever be Identified.

 

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An old mushroom like this is unlikely to exhibit the traits one generally finds listed in field guides. It's not unusual for a large, robust, thick-fleshed fruit body to dry in-situ, become hard or leathery, and then soften up when the weather is moist. For some particularly fleshy types this process may be repeated several times. We're not gonna reach a confident ID on this. But I think Abortiporus biennis is a reasonable proposal. This species forms large fleshy fruit bodies of variable shape. It has large pores that would not be unlikely to tear apart and look like what is seen in the second photo down.  I do see what appears to be a white spore deposit. Any green tint is probably a mold that has colonized the spore mass. 

If this is A. biennis, your guess is as good as mine as to whether it will appear again in the same spot. This is a saprobic species, and as such will thrive only while certain nutrients are still present in this spot.  If it does show up again, difficult to say at what time of year. Observations of A. biennis are not very common.

And, impossible to say with confidence that the mushroom is A. biennis. Although I don't think this is a gilled mushroom, I have seen old clusters of Armillaria that had persisted though months of winter weather. I would not rule out this possibility.  Something as beat-up as this... it's all guesswork. But, if it comes back and you find an example in better condition, I'd sure be interested in seeing some photos. 

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