Fungi Friday - Common but Overlooked

Here are a couple of common mushrooms that are often overlooked for this #fungifriday

Here is one of the most common mushrooms worldwide commonly called split gill because of the gill pattern with a Latin name of Schizophyllum commune.

It had been raining so these got nice and plump with water.

When it gets dry out these shrink into a very small white crust that is easily overlooked for more eye catching mushrooms.

I usually go out after it has been raining a few days looking for them in their large form. You can collect them and let them dry out and store them indefinitely in a mason jar. To bring them back to life just soak them in water again and cook them. I find they have a more firm texture but a vivid mushroom taste like a really potent button mushroom.

As with most mushrooms one thing to be aware of is inhaling too many of the spores. If you have a really compromised immune system there is a chance that the spores of this mushroom will actually start growing in your lungs or even other parts of your body. No worries though this is a very rare condition and this mushroom is consumed worldwide mainly because it can be stored in its dry state easily.

Here is another common mushroom, bird's nest fungi aka Cyathus striatus or some variant of the many species in the Crucibulum family.

Here's why its called bird's nest fungi. Each dot eventually dries up revealing a little cup with spore pods. The nest that the spore eggs sit in is designed to launch them out when a raindrop lands inside it. Each egg contains 1000's of spores.

These are very tiny under a centimeter in diameter. They are often found in mulch and help decompose dead wood, other than that they have no uses other than looking cool.

Here's some Steccherinum lusitanicum one of the many species of crust fungi around here. Sadly I have not found any interesting information about this fungi, it just has a mesmerizing pattern. Who knows maybe it has some interesting compounds in it that kill cancer cells that have yet to be discovered. I think all the mycologists are turning their attention to more interesting species. These types of fungi are usually all that is left for me to find during winter.

That's all for now happy hunting.