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Fungi

12 discoveries with Puschel and Flauschi.

Twelve woodland fungi show different shapes and roles. The order is only a rough guide to what may be noticed; season and habitat matter.

Puschel and Flauschi kneel at opposite ends of a log and study thin, banded turkey-tail fungi.

Fungus

Discover turkey-tail fungi

Thin fan-shaped fungal parts grow from wood, often overlapping, with curved colour bands. These visible parts are fruiting bodies; many fungal threads stay hidden in the wood.

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Puschel looks amazed and Flauschi thoughtful as they gaze up at a grey-brown hoof-shaped tinder fungus on an old beech.

Fungus

Discover the tinder fungus

A tinder fungus has a hard hoof-shaped fruiting body on a trunk. Tiny openings underneath are pores.

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Puschel and Flauschi observe a red fly agaric with pale veil remnants beneath a birch from a distance.

Fungus

Discover the fly agaric

Pale spots on a fly agaric's red cap are remnants of an earlier covering. They may be missing.

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Flauschi sits thoughtfully on a rock while Puschel marvels from behind a log at two sturdy porcini with brown caps and pore surfaces.

Fungus

Discover the porcini mushroom

A stout stem and usually brown cap are clues. Under the cap are many tiny tube openings rather than thin gills.

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After rain, Puschel and Flauschi use different curious gestures to observe three chestnut-brown bay boletes; a tilted fungus reveals yellowish pores.

Fungus

Discover the bay bolete

Bay bolete has a chestnut-brown cap with many tiny tube openings underneath. Those clues alone do not ensure identification.

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Puschel spreads both arms in amazement while Flauschi counts honey-yellow honey fungi at the base of an old stump.

Fungus

Discover honey fungus

Honey fungus often forms groups of fruiting bodies on wood. Its fine threads can break down wood and damage living trees.

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Flauschi points out several yellow chanterelles with wavy caps and thick ridges to Puschel from a distance.

Fungus

Discover the chanterelle

Chanterelles may have yellow wavy caps. Blunt folds called ridges run down towards the stem underneath.

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Seen from behind, Puschel sketches two shaggy ink caps while Flauschi studies a darkening cap edge.

Fungus

Discover the shaggy ink cap

Young shaggy inkcaps have elongated white caps with raised scales. As they age they darken and may dissolve.

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Puschel pinches his nose in surprise while Flauschi giggles; a stinkhorn stands nearby with flies at its dark tip.

Fungus

Discover the common stinkhorn

A stinkhorn begins inside a round covering sometimes called a witch's egg. Later its smell attracts flies, which can carry spores away.

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Puschel kneels and looks closely while Flauschi points from a distance to brown-scaled woodland mushrooms with brownish gills in the forest floor.

Fungus

Discover the woodland mushroom

Brown scales may cover a wood mushroom's cap. Thin blade-like gills underneath darken with age.

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Flauschi views a brown weather earthstar through a magnifying glass while Puschel peeks from behind a log.

Fungus

Discover the weather earthstar

An earthstar has star-shaped arms around a round spore sac. Humid air makes the arms spread; dry conditions close them.

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Puschel sits while Flauschi points up at a white lion’s mane fungus with long hanging spines on dead wood.

Fungus

Discover lion’s mane fungus

Lion's mane fungus grows on broadleaf wood and has long hanging spines. They belong to its fruiting body, the visible fungal part.

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