Hi, We found this cauliflower type fungi, in a coastal pine forest on the Atlantic coast of Southern Spain while foraging for wild mushrooms. My partner has been collecting wild mushrooms for many years and has never seen anything like this, even in the 'slime mould' group. Any help with identification would be fab. It was rosy pink, very solid like a very good cauliflower, it was aproximatetly 25-30cms across and about 15 cms high. No distinctive aroma, although we left it, unpicked where we found it so difficult to be more precise. Can anyone please help. Thank you.
I would really need to see the underside, but the picture of the top and your description sounds like something in the genus Hydnellum.
Nice call MycoRob I did not think of that. I'm wondering if you can tell if it is growing on wood or soil, and also whether looks like the surface has a second fungus growing on it? -frog
The 'tooth-like' structures on the underside sometimes take as tiny fraction of the underside the fungus which is easy to miss. Did you happen to pull it up? was there a tapering root-like stalk or a simple point of attachment. The true ID might be obfuscated by the age of your specimen - it could be old, water-logged (at point), and the color on the cap looks grossly faded. The fungus growing through the grass is indicative of only a few mushrooms, Hydnellum is the closest I can think of.
Good point - mold growing on surface is a real possibility, even in addition to bleaching of the natural colors due to exposure to sunlight. These guys take several weeks to grow, lots of things can happen.
Hi, It was growing in rich, dark, soil covered in pine needles, it had evidently consumed some twigs during its growth, as you can see in the photos. It didn't have a second fungus growing on it, it was dry to touch, again reference cauliflower, the texture was very similar, no residue on our fingers, not at all slimy. It was in a semi shaded area of the pine forest. It was not water logged, in fact the ground in this forest seemed very dry compared to other areas near by. It didn't seem to have usual signs of aging, seemed to be in its prime. This year in southern Spain we have experienced tremendous ammounts of rain, three months of it! So have seen some rather unusual specimens, which has been exciting, however this has us curious. Loving the info you are all sending, and thank you again. Be good to share more info across the continents on this subject. p.s. No we didn't pull it up, so difficult to say if growing by foot or not.
My final guess: an old Hydnellum aurantiacum. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Hydnellum_aurantiacum.jpg Check out specimen on top right of this picture, looks like a cauliflower, no? The young one on the left appears a little blue, but that fades with time. The one in the middle is cut in half, do that next time you find one of these buggers and see if it is orange inside.
Well that's brilliant, and certainly the closest likelyness we have seen. Thank you so much. Look forward to the next intervention we may have.
