I’ve noticed over the last couple of weeks that there have been quite a few mushrooms springing up in Riverside Park… some in the mulch, a couple under some pine trees… but today I noticed a batch of mushrooms that I had never seen before. Where I grew up, hen of the woods is very common on fallen logs and fences, as well as a few others that tend to spring up in the moist soil – but I’ve never seen one so vibrantly colored as these, which I saw in two different places.
Trunk a-bloom with chicken mushrooms
Both times, the mushrooms were attached to trees – the first one was fairly small (about the size of 1-2 blocks of charcoal) at the base of a tree. The other made it look like the entire tree trunk was abloom with orange fruit! These ranged in size from my fist to almost as large as my head, and some were particularly odd shaped – including one that looked like a little person, attached at the back to the trunk of the tree!
Mushroom dude!
I’ll have to find out during class what types of mushrooms these are – and whether they’re edible!
Katie's Folly 