I've been seing these while hiking in the woods lately. Any idea what they are? I was thinking some type of coral fungus or jelly fungus, but it really doesn't match anything I've seen in pictures. Tim
While I can't make a positive ID, when I see stuff looking like this in my region, it usually turns out to be old (previous season's) Laetiporus - Chicken of the Woods. cheers, frog
I had someone else make the same comment about Chicken of the Woods, and while I'm open to that being the case, it really seems structurally different. It's also relatively large (below is a photo with my hand for a size reference). The "fingerlike" shapes don't jibe with Chicken of the Woods to me. The fungi is moist and seems to be alive, rather than being mushy or brittle. The one in the third photo is starting to decompose, but the projections look more like coral to me than shelf-shaped. Tim
Here's one from S.W. BC for comparison. Ah, that was a pretty spot in the Chilliwack River Valley. Sorry about the fuzzy pic. I have better ones, but without the hand.
Beautiful large fruiting Lysichiton! Fresh Laetiporus fruiting bodies are yellow/orange but sometimes they persist into the next season, fading to white and looking very much like tspuckler's photo. When I've found these, often they've been friable/crumbly and/or sodden, but sometimes still fairly firm & structure. I don't have another good guess besides this, based on the fungi I have seen in my region, but there may be critters in Ohio that I would not know. cheers! frog
I think that solves my ID question - thanks! I will be checking out that area for living examples of that fungi periodically. It looks pretty cool when it's orange. I look forward to finding some live examples. Tim
