I haven’t seen any spring mushroom stalks arising out of the soil yet. But, of course, the stalkless mushrooms attached to decaying tree trunks are with us all year. Because of the way they grow, they’re often called “bracket fungi” or “shelf fungi” and their entire bodies are called “conks.”
The various species of these fungi also are known collectively as “polypores” (meaning many pores) because they have innumerable small tubes on the underside of their conks from which their reproductive spores drop. The large conks shown here are red-belted polypores (Fomitopsis pinicola).
One of the curious things about polypores is that they rely on gravity to make their spores drop into the world. This causes a problem when that decaying tree trunk that they are attached to falls – then, the bottom of the conk is no longer facing down to facilitate spore drops. Not to worry: over time, the conk will twist itself so that it’s bottom is again facing downward and gravity will be able to do its job.
Leighton Archive image
(Primary image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 20, 2022.)