BabyXylaria polymorpha and… some kind of meadow mushroom cluster. It was huge and slimy and in someone’s backyard so I didn’t feel comfortable examining it too closely
Cup fungus and Polyporus alveolaris. Which looks like I put it through some kind of green filter but it was actually just my phone camera overreacting to the moss and lichen background
During dry periods their hyphae collapse down and become rather hard and resistant to bending, but as soon as they are reintroduced to moisture, they expand back out to their original gelatinous texture.
It is important to note, however, that the peculiar appearance of jelly fungi is not an absolute indicator of ancestral relationships. Gelatinous textures can also be found in some Ascomycota and are really just an adaptation to certain environmental pressures.
Due to having no stem, gills or visible pores, jelly fungi reproduce by forming microscopic basidia over their body surfaces. The basidia are similar to those on the gills or pore walls on the undersides of regular mushrooms.
Only a few jelly fungi are eaten, having little or an undesirable taste. However, some species, such as Tremella fuciformis, are not only edible but prized for use in soup and vegetable dishes. Others, like the Cat’s Tongue mushroom (Pseudohydnum gelatinosum), can even be used to make candy.
Mycena haematopus, which I’ve seen called Bleeding Mycena or Bleeding Fairy Helmet. But never anything about nipples, which, if we’re being real, these totally look like.
From last week - crown-tipped coral (Artomyces pyxidatus), some deer shield mushrooms, dryad’s saddle and what was possibly the last Stropharia of the season. Also wolf’s milk slime mold (Lycogala epidendrum)
