wrinkled peach

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I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who once told me he didn't think fungi, i.e. mushrooms and the lot, were very interesting.

Say, what?

Although I should have turned him over to my mycologist friends to be sautéed with a nice portabella, instead I let it pass.

But, needless to say, he was wrong.

Case in point: The above photo taken by Dan Molter of the "wrinkled peach" fungus, a.k.a. Rhodotus palmatus. I've never seen one, but I daresay, I'd queue up to do it. To borrow from Prince Hamlet and make it my own, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, More things of great beauty, Than can be dreamt of by one fool such as I."

Wrinkled peach fungus grows on dead hardwoods: basswood, maple and especially elm. The spread of Dutch elm disease and the subsequent large numbers of dead elm trees may have made R. palmatus more prevalent in my part of the world.

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