Here’s another favorite from the archives. I shared it a few years ago and probably told the story behind it then. But I am known to repeat my stories as I can never remember to whom I told them.
One autumn I was driving down a local highway, Route 47, in Hadley and noticed a stump with this mushroom…a Dryad’s Saddle (also known as partridge back)-Cerioporus squamosus formerly known as Polyporus squamosus. I made a few shots as it is an attractive polypore fungus and had some Gill over the Ground-Glechoma hederacea growing around it.
I told myself to remember to revisit it in the spring when the flower, also called creeping charlie or ground ivy, would be blooming. To my surprise I did remember. No small accomplishment.
I’ve photographed a lot of interesting mushrooms, including others of this species, over the years since 2010 but it remains my favorite.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
That is one amazing photograph, Steve, and it’s no wonder you’re so proud of it. I’m sure I’ve not seen it before, or I would surely remember. I’m all for re-posting old favorites and giving them well-deserved new lives. This has enriched my day.
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Thanks, Gary. It’s been a while and I am now blogging with several new friends so while a few may have seen it before I guessed that some such as yourself would be seeing the image for the first time. I am glad you felt it added something to your day’s experience.
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Beautiful pictures.
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Thank you, Anja.
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What a decorative fungus. Both of your portraits do it justice.
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Nice little two line poem. Thanks.
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You’re welcome, but for once I wasn’t thinking in terms of verse. I just wrote two independent sentences.
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Maybe your subconscious took control.
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This is one fungus that does look good enough to eat. The photo with the blooming flowers is splendid. I can’t remember ever seeing something like it. Flowers and fungi aren’t a natural pairing in my mind, and they may not be that common even in nature. Perfection.
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As far as I have read it is considered edible. But as with most polypores it would be like eating wood. Not really worth it.
I have seen a few mushrooms popping up through some flowers but never anything like the framing by the ivy. They might seem an odd photographic pairing but in terms of ecology fungi and plants get along great and sort of feed each other.
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Very nice, Steve! And excellent job remembering to go back and where to go! The image with the flowers was well worth it.
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Thanks, Ellen. Yeah, I was lucky that I remembered. I miss a lot of things.
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Me, too, and I keep thinking I should start a journal for this type of info but can’t remember to get it started! Ha, I should do it during this down time.
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Very Nice Steve! Enjoyed seeing them!
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Thanks, Reed.
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I am glad we have this fungus amungus. Magnificent image.
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Hahaha … Michael, your comment was on my screen when my OH came along and read it – he’s just gone off to his office laughing his head off 🙂
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I was inspired by the title of a Charles Mingus album: “Mingus Amungus.“ He had another album with a title that was a favorite of Latin students: “Mingus Ah Um.“
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Clever and funny! Thanks.. I wouldn’t have known that 🙂
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Unforeseen benefits of being a jazz fan.
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The fungus amongus is a phrase often used in mushroom gab.
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I am also, but then I am a fungi fun guy. Thanks!
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A Fungi Mungki?
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Yes indeedy.
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So beautiful, esp. the second wreathed in flowers. The first shot made me think of a stack of pancakes!
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Thanks, Eliza. It does look kind of breakfasty. I haven’t had pancakes in a long time. A few years ago at Davenport Maple Farm after a hike in High Ledges.
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That is certainly an eye-catcher, Steve. And I can understand why you wanted to return to photograph it again. I don’t think I have seen a bracket fungus with so much distinctive patterning. The ground ivy looks really good, too.
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It is an unusually patterned mushroom with those bits of scale atop. That ground ivy can be a real pest. We have it in the yard around our foundation mostly and it’s easy to pull up but hard to eliminate entirely.
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Wow, glad to see you made it back in spring. The first photo was great on its own, but those flowers make for such a beautiful combination.
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A little bit of extra texture as George Harrison might say. Thanks, Todd.
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They complement one another perfectly!
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Thanks, Tanja!
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Cool! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen – or heard – of this species. What a beauty! The Gill-over-the-ground (I remember that wildflower!) complements it so well. Perfect framing, exposure, and everything else. Joe and I have been walking together lately and we’ve been noticing the amazing “perfect garden” effects like that which occur so often in nature, without any help. We have a tiny, intense blue flower called Small-flowered Blue-eyed Mary (Maybe you have Blue-eyed Mary?) that is always gathering gracefully in crevices, like little cascades. (Collinsia parviflora) You have a great eye for these serendipitous combinations.
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Small-flowered Blue-eyes Mary does, or did, grow here but just in a few locations and I’ve never seen it. In just reading about it there may no longer be colonies of it.
Nature does a wonderful job entirely on its own and those “gardens” often put our human efforts to shame.
Gill-o’er-the-gorund is often a pest to gardeners. In our yard it is prolific but just against the foundation and is easily pulled where we don’t want it growing.
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BTW, I mean the mushroom – I do know Gill-over-the-ground. It’s nice just the way you have it – against the foundation and not difficult to remove. Perfect. 🙂
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I was pretty sure you meant the ‘shroom, Lynn. 🙂
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