Weekly Photo Challenge: Out of this World ***The Fungus Among Us***

Get down. Get low. That’s it…a little closer. No…closer. Closer…

Do you see it?

From afar, you see it’s a mushroom or some type of fungus. Then you get closer: the fungus has texture and more color. You notice the irregular shape of the fungus. Then upon closer inspection you notice nicks, bruises, moisture, and maybe even insects on the fungus. Its interesting. Then you turn your gaze to the area surrounding the fungus. Oh! There is lichen or bright green moss. The piece of rotting wood the fungus is on has five different colors of brown. There is a slug and something smells. The slug? The mushroom? Do slugs smell?

When I look at the world of fungi upon close inspection, I swear I’m on another planet sometimes. Colors, shapes and textures of the fungi astound me. Not to mention the area surrounding the fungus itself.

It’s truly out of this world.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge:
Out of This World

Note: Some of the pictures contain Lichen and Slime Mold. Lichen is a symbiosis between different organisms: a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium. A Slime Mold belongs to the kingdom Protista and is a simple organism that consists of an acellular mass of creeping jellylike protoplasm containing nuclei, or a mass of amoeboid cells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold
https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/what-is-lichen.html