Fungi Friday

Fungi FridayThe title is right because I plan to publish this on Friday.  However, the day my Friend, the Fungi Finder, found the following fruiting bodies of fungi was Saturday, May 27.  She mentioned as we started out on our hike that she had found lots of different mushrooms in her yard the last time she  worked on it.  That was not surprising.  We have had a lot of rain this spring.  April was the rainiest April since 1932 and May had above average rain fall.

My Firend, the Fungi Finder did a great job of finding fungi.  Lots of them were small enough that I probably would have missed them if I had been hiking by myself.

Here is my Friend, the Fungi Finder with her faithful companions.  Her companions probably would complain if we were doing a real hike.  Our hike was  actually a  walk on a well-maintained county park trail.

Here is the one I call Scalloped Fungi.  All of the names I've given these fungi are fanciful.  We didn't inspect them close enough to try to ID them.  Neither one of us know much about fungi so I doubt that we would have come up with any true names anyway.

This one I call Tiny Scaly Orange. The key gives you an idea of the size.

Another tiny one...Tiny Orange Toadstool. Again the key gives you an idea of the size.

Spotted Toadstools

Ring Pattern Toadstools

Both photos are of the same group of fungi.  I took each from a different angle. These tiny fungi remind me of the spread tails of turkeys.

I have an old Golden Guide to Non-flowering Plants.  At the time the book was printed fungi were still in the plant kingdom.  Now the fungi have a kingdom of their own.   They are important in a number of ways.  More about that another time.