Pheasant's Back Mushroom - Nature's Amazing Maze
Dec 13, 2019 09:38:16 #
I came across this Pheasant's Back mushroom while scouting in the woods last week looking for subjects and specimens last week. I had no idea of how complex the building structure of this mushroom was until I viewed in through the camera's magnification.
Mother Nature designed this mushroom with an amazing network of inner connecting mazes which not only shows her beauty it shows her engineering mastery.
This is a focus stacked image taken with the camera and lens setup shown in my other recent posts.
As always, thanks in advance to all who view and for your comments, suggestions, questions and critique.
Mother Nature designed this mushroom with an amazing network of inner connecting mazes which not only shows her beauty it shows her engineering mastery.
This is a focus stacked image taken with the camera and lens setup shown in my other recent posts.
As always, thanks in advance to all who view and for your comments, suggestions, questions and critique.
Dec 13, 2019 14:36:34 #
Dec 13, 2019 17:48:34 #
If I may.
I find a few problems with your ID. I do not know what it is exactly, but I do not believe it is a 'Pheasant back'.
The pores are similar, but the mushroom most commonly called PB is also called Dryads' Saddle. Polyporus squamousus, meaning scaly, this is not.
I posted a P. squamatus 11 Apr. 18 under cheap closeups.
Notice the similarity in the pore surface.
This is also a trait of a group of mushrooms called mazegills. Daedalea quercina, found on dead oak, is one of these.
Pheasantback mushrooms are on an off center, distinct stem.
Edable and good if prepared correctly. Will get tough if not careful.
The one you found was more woody, was it not? And was growing 'from' a dead branch or log, no stem, but a 'shelf'.
A way to collect many small beetles is collect well dried fungi of this type, any hard, corky or woody fungi. Keep ( I use cardboard cigar boxes if I can get them) in a sheltered but outside area. A shed, etc. Some produce rarely seen beetles for years. And on a schedule.
Look on locust trees for a woody shelf mushroom called redbelt.
Common, and host to a lot of beetles.
I have a number of proven ways to collect.
Maybe an FYI on target collecting?
Winter is settled in. Looks to stay a few months.
Have some more ways to get macro on a budget. Yeah, right.
Later, Gary. Dinner soon.
Bill
I find a few problems with your ID. I do not know what it is exactly, but I do not believe it is a 'Pheasant back'.
The pores are similar, but the mushroom most commonly called PB is also called Dryads' Saddle. Polyporus squamousus, meaning scaly, this is not.
I posted a P. squamatus 11 Apr. 18 under cheap closeups.
Notice the similarity in the pore surface.
This is also a trait of a group of mushrooms called mazegills. Daedalea quercina, found on dead oak, is one of these.
Pheasantback mushrooms are on an off center, distinct stem.
Edable and good if prepared correctly. Will get tough if not careful.
The one you found was more woody, was it not? And was growing 'from' a dead branch or log, no stem, but a 'shelf'.
A way to collect many small beetles is collect well dried fungi of this type, any hard, corky or woody fungi. Keep ( I use cardboard cigar boxes if I can get them) in a sheltered but outside area. A shed, etc. Some produce rarely seen beetles for years. And on a schedule.
Look on locust trees for a woody shelf mushroom called redbelt.
Common, and host to a lot of beetles.
I have a number of proven ways to collect.
Maybe an FYI on target collecting?
Winter is settled in. Looks to stay a few months.
Have some more ways to get macro on a budget. Yeah, right.
Later, Gary. Dinner soon.
Bill
Dec 13, 2019 18:46:48 #
newtoyou wrote:
Bill, you're spot on. Good thing that I don't collect mushrooms for dinner and I get mine at the local store. This mushroom is hard. The top surface is as though it is made of plaster and the underside looks like it has a fine texture to it. When viewed under magnification it is comprised of granular particles that make up the endless mazes.If I may. I find a few problems with your ID.
You can see on the photo of it sitting on my lab table that it was attached to the tree as though it were a shelf. The tree may have been dead although there are no leaves on any of the trees in this woods so it would be difficult for me to tell. I am fairly confident however that it was an oak tree.
I looked at images on the internet and the Pheasant's Back looked similar. I imagine that there are those who said those same last words engraved on their tombstones, "I thought that it would be good to eat!"
Dec 14, 2019 03:10:25 #
Shape, but NOT color, is similar to Turkey Tail fungus, meaning this is most likely a Trametes, such as T. hirasuta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trametes_hirsuta
Dec 15, 2019 20:12:39 #
Dec 15, 2019 20:20:12 #
Thanks for all the comments to my posts, I truly enjoy reading them and they serve as encouragement for me to do more. I'm always amazed at what I see when I view the specimens at higher magnifications.
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