this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
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Mycology

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by greedytacothief to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] greedytacothief 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Lurkinney 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I am uneducated and curious, is it common practice to disturb these specimens?

[–] greedytacothief 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It had broken off of that log before we found it. It was all dried out and was surprisingly light. I would not normally disturb something this extraordinary, but it seemed harmless given the circumstances.

[–] Lurkinney 10 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

What you see here is the mushroom, basically the gonads of the organism (technically the “fruiting body”, something that is there to spread the spores). The bulk of the fungus is inside the dead tree, putting out digestive juices and eating it.

There’s no real harm to it to take it out. Or to use a knife and take a piece of it. It’s common practice to use porous bags to carry them so you’re helping it spread the spores around as you’re foraging.

[–] Lurkinney 3 points 2 months ago

Really cool thanks