Dead Man's Fingers - Xylaria polymorpha
Dead man's fingers are one of the strangest mushrooms you can find when hunting for fungus. The examples here are all from my backyard, and are feasting on the root system of an ice storm damaged Birch tree.
As you can see, they gain their name from both their hue, and the means by which they seem to reach out from the dirt. They love dead wood, and make quick meals of things like my poor Birch.
They change color over time, from a blueish to black and eventually dry out. The white tips are the areas that produce spores. The flesh is very hard and bright white under the dark skin.
They are more abundant in early spring and summer and by the end of summer you may mistake them for scat or broken twigs. Watch for them on or around thinking stumps and from poking out of the ground on the soft root systems of decaying trees.
I love to go mushroom hunting and I love to see what other people find so please comment and if you follow me and you're a mushroom hunter or if you follow me and you're not, I'll be happy to follow you back!
Dead Man's Fingers is one of the more aptly named nicknames for a mushroom. Really odd fellows.
I have a blog called the amateur mycologist and have started a discord channel specifically for mycology. I upvoted and resteemed this and also posted on discord. I encourage you to check it out - it is a small but growing server.
https://discord.gg/WfHua
Edit: this is good content man - but i had to take down the post on discord as a matter of principle - you cant just repost the same post in the same sub twice a month apart. I encourage you to make more cintent similar quality and i will happily support it!
Those are some creepy mushrooms. Cool photos. I need to get out more.
Really cool mushrooms @votezaktaylor. I haven't seen them personally. They certainly don't look appetizing either. Thanks for sharing!
Being in Michigan, you are in great mushroom country! I've seen deadman's fingers just a couple times, and a deadman's foot, too (Pisolithus arrhizus). I enjoy finding mushrooms, including ones to eat. I've posted about some of them here on Steemit. I think I'm the only person on the Internet that has actually showed how to eat an Insidious Gomphidius. I also curate for the @foraging-trail, where edible mushroom posts are pretty regular. Happy mushroom hunting!
Where you from my friend ? i want to know which country to belong to @ronaldmcatee
Interesting
I will follow you to see your future posts! +upvote