I found this beauty close to my home in the forest yesterday. It appears to be growing from the ground and is very hard to the touch, similar to what I know as artist's fungus. It is about 6 inches across. Does anyone know what this is? Thanks!
Interesting! Because of the colour, I'm thinking a Laetiporus growing on wood underground ... is it more flexible than an artists conk, and does the undersurface have pores? ref: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/laetiporus_sulphureus.html
Yes, it seems a bit more flexible, but I don't see any pores on the underside surface. I've attached a few more photos, just for grins.
The second set of photos clearly shows chicken mushrooms, Laetiporus conifericola, formerly Laetiporus sulphureus. At this stage you can eat the whole mushroom, which gets tougher with age.
Unless it is growing on underground eg. plum wood. ... sorry to hairsplit and yes I agree likeliest is L. conifericola, but they've been fiddling around with the species in this genus so much that there is actually a chance it could be another species, if on other wood. frog <wearing a hat fulla split hairs>
