These guys are not exactly a crust but have spread over a decent portion of a small stump. Sort of little cups but with polypore building blocks. The "large" cup at the top (center-left) is about 1 cm across, and progresses in colour over the course of the three pics (19 days), as do many of the individual cups.
I like the shapes and the yellowish tinge is interesting: Did the stump looked like a conifer or a hardwood? Were they growing more from a particular part of the stump ie sides, base or cut face top of stump? -frog
The cup-crusts are growing on two sides of the stump (roughly S and E) nearer the base and not the top. I'm not good with identifying old black stumps but the trees around (on a bit of an upland) are mostly pine and doug-fir, with a bit of alder, so most likely conifer. I'll look at it next time I'm back, maybe get a clue.
I revisited the place and the trees around are just shorepine/lodgepole and doug-fir, no alder after all, so almost certainly a conifer. Best guess would be fir but not certain, if it matters. And the colours are still evolving, with some parts, like the upper center-left ghoul face, which started off with a red streak, turning to yellow, and now moving back toward red again.
I've found another log these guys are growing on more recently. The old previous ones have not grown at all in this time, the biggest ones being only 1 cm or so across. The new one is much bigger, ~ 7 cm x 2 cm, and definitively growing on a pine log, appearing mainly in the furrows of the decaying bark.
Heh, I'm back. They're fairly tough and leathery. And very persistent. They have survived the cold snap of a couple weeks ago and seem healthy and still colourful. New pic attached from the group on the second log. The first lot from the stump are fading a bit but not these guys. Thanks, Mike
Hi Mike, I can't remember if I've asked you this before: Are you in the Victoria area? If so, could you bring a specimen sample to the SVIMS meeting on March 6? frog
