Linear drama

The underbelly of this fungus was so visually intriguing. Anybody know what kind it is?

These are beautiful in the way engravings are beautiful — how the lines describe the contours and give dimension and drama to the image. 

 

 

Weekly photo challenge: Relic

This week’s photo challenge theme is relic. Our relic is a pine tree, giving life to fungi.

RELIC — Fungi cover the remains of a pine tree.

And others of today’s relics that we liked:

• Dinosaur – http://chattel.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/weekly-photo-challenge-relic/
• Phone boxes – http://ambitiousdrifter.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/weekly-photo-challenge-relics/
• Hearth – http://quabbinvalley.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/bassettville-part-ii-hacketts-lodge/
• Boat – http://justanothernatureenthusiast.org/2014/07/11/relic-weekly-photo-challenge/
• Rusted – http://ceenphotography.com/2014/07/11/wordpress-weekly-photo-challenge-relic/comment-page-1/#comment-19545
• Instrumental – http://helenchen.ws/2014/07/11/wordpress-weekly-photo-challenge-relic/

 

Shrooms

SMUSHED — These mushrooms packed themselves tightly into a gap in the concrete.

STANDING TALL — Mushroom stands tall amidst the stones on the shore of the pond.

Bearded old man in the woods-UPDATE

This fungus probably wasn’t a few days or weeks old at the most. With its hoary beard, deep crevices and its weary bend, one might think it had spent a century in this spot.

An update to this post: Tamara (of Blossom the groundhog fame) notes that there IS a mushroom called Old Man of the Woods,  and despite the analogy, this bearded fellow is definitely not Strobilomyces floccopus.

BENT WITH AGE — This mushroom was bent completely over, seemingly weighed down by the gray filaments that grew from its crown.

The blob

When I was a kid, the 1958 Steve McQueen movie, “The Blob,” was terrifying. At some point, you get older and realize the horror of the big, gooey monster is just fiction, confined to the big screen. But then, you get even older and realize the blob does exist, and it’s called cedar apple rust. As diseases go, it’s pretty spectacular looking, sort of spider chrysanthemum meets orange Jell-o, all activated by the spring rain.

However its fungal glory is short-lived. A week later, the stars were dried and droopy.

FUNGUS -- One of the larger fungal "stars" of the cedar apple rust that's infected an eastern red cedar on the hill.

 

BRANCHING OUT -- Though the "stars" are the most notable part of this infection, there are more modest blobs on inner branches.

 

A WEEK LATER -- The fungal spore horns shrivel.

Fungus

Nature’s composters are hard at work on this snag which tumped over last spring. Among them, several varieties of fungus, which are both beautiful and somewhat creepy.

WOOD EAR -- This fungus was a nondescript gray, except when backlit, taking on a vibrant red coloring. The veining almost made it look like some mammalian body part.

GRAY VELVET -- This fungus fell in folds like some gray velvet draped over the lichen.

HAPPY -- This fuzzley fungus looks like a rainbow with a tight palette.

Really lichen this

During spring’s botanical outbursts, summer’s riot of plant and animal life and fall’s loud last hurrah, lichens go unnoticed on branches and rocks. Then winter comes. Nature provided a warm January day, perfect for a stroll with camera in hand.

GOT IT COVERED -- Lichen encrusts nearly all the branches of a very small tree.

EXTRA TEXTURE -- Variation in lichen texture along one branch.