I found these today at the edge of a grassy trail near some douglas fir. The narrow one in the pictures immediately reminded me of helvella lacunosa (the fluted black enfin saddle) but the second one, growing mere centimeters from the first, is much thicker and weirder. Going through the keys in MD just got me more confused. The cap appears to be attached at various spots and free in between and, to me, has a slight touch of brown to it but is basically dark gray. Any ideas? -Shawn
Interesting...the structure definately looks more like a Gyro...rather then a Helvella.....but season-wise....I thought most Gyro species were spring/early summer?
Helvella lacunosa, with partly deformed apothecia. Regards, Harri Harmaja http://www.fmnh.helsinki.fi/users/harmaja/index.htm
WOW....that's an incredible fungi! I saw that it can be parasitized by Hypomyces cervinigenus which may be the reason for the structure and color to these?
