#tiny fungi

tiny fungi 🍄

They were all over a large tree that got knocked down during the crazy weather we had over the last few weeks.

No idea who these tiny guys are but they’re most likely a Mycena species; dozens of them were covering a patch of forest floor.

The best photo my phone could get of these tiny fungi - each head no more than half a centimetre across, although they can grow a little bigger than this. These mushrooms can be recognised by their stipe, which darkens towards the bottom, and the grooves in it cap (not really visible in this photo), which are not as pronounced as in others in this genus, and do not attach to deep,  segment-like   gills, unlike the similar Marasmius rotula.

I can’t identify these beautiful little fingertip fungi to a species, but suspect they’re a Marasmius, with their grooved cap and widely-spaced gills matching many in this broad genus.

I had no idea who these tiny guys were when I found them, and sadly didn’t take good enough photos to start trying to identify them now - perhaps a Marasmius species of some kind.

These gorgeous, short-lived fungi will only last for a few days, appearing pure-white at first, as you can see in some of the smaller specimens here, then greying and turning brownish-grey to black before disintegrating.  They can appear in huge clouds at times, with hundreds covering a stump or fallen tree, and always remind me of clusters of tiny jellyfish hanging out.