# Fungus ID help please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-id-help-please/556394 "2010-10-07T18:42:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-id-help-please/556394/1 "2010-10-07T18:42:15Z")
First, don’t panic. I never eat wild fungi unless I am absolutely, rigorously certain of their identity and have eliminated possible lookalikes. OK, there’s a big, rosette-like fungus growing near the base of a mature English oak tree near where I live (southern England). It’s about a foot across and maybe three inches tall and comprises a cushion-like mound of curly frills, quite firmly-rubbery to the touch, slightly greasy feeling. I’ve observed it appearing several years in succession in this location and it starts out as a really dense, fist-sized body that is highly geometric/symmetric in appearance - like a romanesco cauliflower, but dark coppery red-brown. As it matures and opens out, it turns lighter in colour, through purplish-brown to nut-brown. I have not had a chance to observe the smell, taste or spore print, nor to work out what the structure is beneath the outwardly visible top layer of frills Here are some photos I took today: > **[AtomicShrimp's Album - Click to see more photos](https://imageshack.com/a/19ps)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com Any ideas? I want to say Grifola, but I’ve never seen one in the flesh, and I can’t find an example online that is so finely-curled as this. ETA: that’s a 12 inch ruler in one of the photos. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-id-help-please/556394/2 "2010-10-07T19:11:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Any ideas? I want to say Grifola, but I’ve never seen one in the flesh, and I can’t find an example online that is so finely-curled as this. My initial semi-educated guess as well, but I’ve only run across one once myself and it was much paler. Still I found photos that are pretty tight and dark, like [these](http://beginningfarmers.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/grifola-small.jpg) [two](http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/pictures/data/8/medium/Grifolia_frondosa.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-id-help-please/556394/3 "2010-10-08T17:46:05Z")
Cool, thanks. I’m going to collect it tomorrow if it’s still there - and I’ll do the full dichotomous key identification on it back at home. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-id-help-please/556394/4 "2010-10-08T18:57:26Z")
Change of plan. Someone on another board has identified it as Podoscypha multizonata - which is quite rare and special - so I’ll be leaving it where it is (I’ve also contacted the British Mycological Society, in case one of their recording groups wants to take a look at it. [http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=Podoscypha+multizonata](http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=Podoscypha+multizonata)