From the 'You learn something every day' Category

We walk through our bush most mornings.  I've always been interested in nature, so am always 'looking'.  Every once in a while I see something that I haven't seen before. I saw this on Wednesday morning, and remembered to take the camera back with me yesterday.  This is what it looked like on the bottom.

And this is what it looked like on the top.  The ball thingy was soft and squishy, but would bounce back into shape once you stopped poking it.

 I kind of thought it must be a mushroom, but in my 50 odd years of wandering the woods of B.C., I don't remember ever seeing this before.  I spent some time looking at pictures of edible mushrooms of B.C., which happened to be the site I ended up on first.  There were a lot of mushrooms there that I know I haven't seen either.  I can't imagine ever forgetting seeing this. It can get up to 12" across.

Bear's Head Tooth Mushroom  Hericium Americanum

Photo from northernbushcraft.com

I didn't see any pictures of my mushroom.  So yesterday after taking the photos, I got back on the computer and searched for images of 'mushrooms with a ball on top'.  There were loads and loads of pictures of puffballs, but as I scrolled down I finally found what I was looking for.  This is what it is, Geastrum Saccatum, commonly known as the rounded earthstar.  There are lots more amazing pictures of them here 

There were a few other mushrooms/fungi out there, but nothing as exciting as the earthstar.

On a rotting birch stump

Way up on a dying alder tree.  I remember writing on the bottom of these when I was a child. The writing would turn dark.

And finally some ink caps? busting out of the horse manure pile.

T