Good morning team. This week's mushroom is Hypholoma fasciculare, the Sulphur Tuft. On 11/19/2020 I was scouring the woodchip pile in Tupelo Meadow and found a few old clumps of H. fasciculare growing around the base of a catalpa tree. H. fasciculare typically fruits in the fall/winter and can be found across North America and Europe. It is saprobic and grows out of dead wood. It is poisonous and extremely bitter to the taste (an identification method is to take a nibble of the cap and spit it out). One interesting feature about H. fasciculare is that it produces the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal chemical sparassol. This helps it outcompete neighboring fungi for space and nutrients.
Have a pleasant Monday,
Aubrey