Fungi are a group of living organisms which include mushrooms, toadstools and moulds. They come in all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes, sizes and colours; some edible, some a rare and exotic delicacy, some hallucinogenic, some medicinal, others deadly poisonous.
They feed by absorbing nutrients from their environment, and reproduce using spores, or by growth straight out of the parent plant.
At this time of the year, they are at their most prolific, loving the cooler, damper conditions which autumn brings and feasting on the nutrients produced by rotting leaves. I have a couple of healthy crops growing in my garden at present! One of them on my lawn :/
This fungus was growing on a felled log by the side of the river path. I have no idea what kind it is. Can anyone educate me?
I've seen quite alot of them across my campus green..I love their shape!
ReplyDeleteNo ideas for what type it is. I wouldn't have minded being a fungus : they seem to have an interesting life style and come in a rich variety of eccentric species. A bit like bloggers. And on another issue, of course you can use the misty picture as your desktop background - it's mine at the moment too.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a fungus called Turkey Tail but I'm not entirely sure - great photo:)
ReplyDeleteThis is very lovely fungus. I've never seen anything quite like it here in the NE.
ReplyDeleteTurkey Tail it is!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trametes_versicolor
Thanks Rosie :)
(And thanks Sacristan for the link!)