October 2010 - I think this might be the most excited I've ever been about a fungus - and it isn't even edible - so what's going on? Well, it's a bit special, because it's big, strange-looking, and really quite uncommon - it's Podoscypha multizonata.
What Is It?
Podoscypha multizonata - a fungus parasitic on surface or buried roots of deciduous trees, especially oak and beech. The specimen I found was very large and impressive.
(Actually, I first saw it in the same location a couple of years ago, but only recently learned its true identity)
In the early stage of development, the fruiting body is a dense and hard spiky ball with a highly geometric/symmetric appearance.
The surface texture was slightly slippery or greasy when I took this photo (sorry about the poor quality - it was taken by a cellphone camera).
Over the course of a couple of weeks, this expands to form flattish, concentric rosette of rubbery frills.
As mentioned above, this is a magnificent and large specimen - for reference, I gently placed a 12 inch rule on it for this picture.
Taking a closer look at the detailed structure from above, the frills are actually a collection of nested scalloped, spoon or fan-shaped caps.
The colour of the fungus is quite elusive - perceived as varying from purplish-red to tawny brown, depending on the quality and quantity of daylight illumination (the colour isn't actually changing, but it seems to).
Let's take a step back again and look at the whole fruiting body - it's fascinatingly complex and alien-looking. This one is near a roadside - I hope nobody mistakes it for a cauliflower fungus or some other potential edible and destroys it by trying to collect it.
