Happy Mystery Tuesday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is crowded parchment, Stereum complicatum, pictured in photo below:
Crowded parchment is a shelving fungus, characterized by its fan-shaped fruiting body. It can range in color from orange to reddish-brown. It is inedible due to its tough, leathery texture.
This fungus grows in tight clusters along the surface of deciduous trees, dead wood, and fallen logs. It has small ochre effused discs that fuse together to form reflexed caps. Their upper surface has short hairs. Crowded parchment lacks gills or tubes.
Crowded parchment does not bleed when torn or cut. It is a standout species when found fruiting in large sheets of individual fruits on a fallen log. It is especially bright after it rains.
Th native range of this fungus is North America and Eastern Asia.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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