Resinous Polypore (Ischnoderma resinosum) is a late fall mushroom. The outer white edge is edible and rather tasty. The rest of the mushroom is too tuff to eat. When the flesh is broken a red liquid oozes out. It can be seen in the photo.
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) is a common bracket mushroom found on dead logs. It gets it common name from its resemblence to a Turkey Tail.
The Milk White Polypore (Irpex lacteus) looks like a white coating on a dead limb. It is actually a thin polypore mushroom. It appears mainly in late summer.
The Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus Squamosus) is a polypore mushroom. It grows on dead trees and can be found anywhere from ground level to over 20 feet in the air. In the fall they get as large as dinner plates. When the flesh is broken it smells like watermelon. Like many bracket mushrooms the flesh is firm and requires long cooking. The taste is different not quite mushroom like.
This catepiller will turn into the Banded Tussock Moth. I don’t normally care about insects but this is a cool catepiller.
At this time of year you can find underneath beech trees black spots that look like the leftover of a fire. At first when I saw them I suspected someone else was wandering my woods. I don’t mind that if I know who it is and they have gotten permission. I soon learned that the black spots were just aphid poop. If you look above the spots there will be a branch covered with aphids.
Read more...A delicate little mushroom often grows on downed logs. The common bonnet (mycena galericulata) also known as the toque mycena or rosy-gill fairy helment.
There are three common ferns in the woods the Christmas Tree Fren (polystichum arcostichoides), New York Fern (parathelypteris noveboracenwsis) and the Northern Maidenhair fern (adiantum pedatum). Christmas Tree Fern New York Fern Maidenhair Fern
The stump puffball (lycoperdon pyriform) is a fairly common mushroom in the woods. It grows on downed logs and stumps. Picked young they are good to eat - better than the common puffball.
My woods has a lot of beech trees. It was logged about 25 years ago and the beech were left. Under many of the beech trees you can find beechdrops which are a parasitic plant on beech roots.