I saw a fungus or lichen on a hike, and I have no idea where to start! My only experience in fungus was in microbiology, so bear with me on the description. The only thing I can say that will make sense is that it was PINK! It was bright pink, growing on a light-green lichen (I knew this one was a lichen) which was on a fallen tree. It looked kind of like a club mushroom, only it didn't have a stalk. I don't know what kind of tree it was growing on, I didn't stop to look at it for long (this was a running hike), and it was found in the southern Ozarks of Missouri, in a primarily-chert forest. If you have any information, please help!
Don't forget, you're talking to an amateur! I have no idea the difference between a fruiting body of a lichen and it's juvenile, or adult non-fruiting stage! Out of a mushroom guide, it looked exactly like Laetiporus sulphureus, only it was one fold at a time, not a whole bunch in one spot. And it was growing on a dead tree instead of a live one!
Hi there, What size was it approximately? Since you are comparing it to Chicken of the Woods I'm guessing it was larger than a matchhead, which means this is not Pink Fairy Upchuck (what it was sounding like for a sec). Did you see any features underneath the stalkless cap? Was the top of the cap smooth, hairy, shiny, dry? frog
It wasn't exactly have a cap in the traditional sense, it was more of a lichen (i think, that was like four weeks ago, and i didn't take any pictures or drawings). I didn't pick it up or anything, we were on a running hike and I was losing. It wasn't hairy that I saw, and it wasn't horizontally oriented on the log, it was growing perpendicular to it, so there was really no top or bottom (with the exception of where it had contact with the log). Next time I'll take a camera on my hikes!
Oh, i forgot size... about half the size of a typical person's palm (half meaning literally chop your palm in half and stick it to the tree, gluing the wounded side to the tree)!
...well I'm having fun making an attempt at this <grin> In the pacific northwest, the only stalkless, shelving from wood, pink things of that size that I run into are Fomitopsis cajanderi (I've seen this in pale pink to a deep red). Pleurotus djamor tropical oyster mushrooms are pink, but I don't know if this colour grows naturally in other regions. If you run into it again, it would be interesting to give this ID another whirl. cheers, frog
