HiveComb

this is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw

Porcelain fungus Oudemansiella mucida or Mucidula mucida is a fairly common autumn mushroom in northern Europe, specifically on rotting beech trees but if you are not in a beech forest you may be very lucky to find them on oak logs or stumps

if you are in the right place you may be lucky to find them in huge numbers

they can cover whole logs but we weren't quite so lucky

but you won't hear me complaining. we found plenty enough. they are easy to identify and not easy to confuse with other species. they are a slightly greyish white, often slimy with a thin but tough white stipe that often has a visible skirt

they are edible and quite tasty but one must remove the stipes and all the slime before cooking, for example simply sauteed in butter with a little garlic, salt and pepper

the porcelain name is well suited as they resemble fine china, especially in the sun where they are somewhat translucent. though they appear very delicate they don't break in small pieces when cooking

It has been discovered, that O. mucida releases a powerful fungicide that deters or even annihilates competitors. Known as strobilurins, these kinds of anti-fungal agents, have found use in the agricultural business as they protect crops from attacks by many Ascomycetes. Although subsequently improved upon by industrial chemists, the first strobilurin fungicides were isolated from wood-rotting mushroom fungi such as O. mucida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oudemansiella_mucida