There is a Facebook group called MushroomCore and it has about 30,000 members who share all kinds of great photos and mushroom stories.
However, some species continue to surprise even the biggest nature lovers. Dead man’s finger (Xylaria polymorpha).
In June, Reagan Daniels from North Carolina uploaded some photos of what she thought were body parts from a corpse, saying, “I saw this dead man’s fingers (or toes in this case) fungus that I literally thought was a Halloween decoration. “
Her snaps instantly went viral, and some people even said they were fake. But Daniels assured people they weren’t.
“I found mushrooms in a park in Western North Carolina in the US that I visit often,” he told Bored Panda, adding that it’s a beautiful place, although it’s kind of busy. “
“The walk is wonderful [and] it’s next to the French Broad River so there are lots of beautiful views.”
The fungus Daniels discovered was growing from a stump surrounded by similar and various other fungi. And no wonder it was intact, even in a popular destination. If I see something like that, I run the other way and call the police.
The Dead Man’s Fingers are found year-round at the base of beechwood stumps and occasionally on other pressed wood. It usually originates from three to six ‘fingers’ which are often bent and give an arthritic black finger impression.
Often appearing in palmate clusters, stromata are white sterile finger-shaped structures with black coverings containing flasks where asci (singular ascus) produce their spores.
Known as the ‘flask fungus’, these black compound fruiting bodies are quite difficult to find in the dark forest.
