Mushroom Monday - Looking Up

Here is the first clickbait image, I know it might look like a strange fungi but it is just a wasp nest lol. Probably good I looked up to make sure I didn't accidentally bump into it and get a bunch of wasp stings in the face, ouch.Here are some mushrooms I found by looking up for this #mushroommonday

This beauty was next to the wasp nest. It was really large but too high up in the tree to get a look at the top. I remember seeing a species of oyster mushroom that looks like this in a book once, it is strange because it lacks common features of oyster mushrooms with gills running down the stem. It could also be a type of mushroom that grows out of an egg shape in the side of the tree.

Here is a batch of large orange mushrooms growing around six feet up on the tree. This is another one I have not identified but I have seen examples of Gymnopilus Junonius looking similar to this at around their large size. These seem to lack the ring around the stem though so I doubt they are the laughing gym mushroom, it is called the laughing gym because it contains some hallucinogenic toxins. Be careful though because there are a variety of Gymnopilus that have neurotoxins in them, I would avoid trying to eat mushrooms that look like this.

Here is a common sight, the summer oyster. Fortunately these nice edible mushrooms were in reach just above my head and I made a decent sized meal out of them.

Here is the common Schizophyllum commune aka split gill mushroom. These are a good edible that you can store forever once they dry, just soak them in water for a while to soften them up to use them for cooking.

Here is a common sight all year around, the artist's conk aka Ganoderma applanatum.

Ganoderma applanatum is often the only type of mushroom I can find in winter.

Ganoderma applanatum has many uses, it is called artist's conk because you can scratch design or wood burn design in the bottom and some can provide a really large canvas to create interesting designs.

This mushroom is also medicinal and has been compounds in it that kill tumors in the throat and cancer in general. It can also resolve indigestion and reduce phlegm. It can be used as a tincture by soaking it in hard alcohol for a long time or you can powder it into a fine dust and boil it in tea.

Here is Polyporus alveolaris that commonly grows in spring. These are edible but only if you find them right when they are first growing. I have read that they need to be pickled to really make them soft enough to eat and their taste by themselves isn't very interesting.

That's all for now, more soon spring is just around the corner. Thanks for looking :-)