Thanks to my fellow bloggers, I have become much more attuned to the little bits of color and texture that surround me when I walk through the woods. I used to look up and forward for animals and birds, but now I am also looking down for interesting mushrooms and tiny plants.
Here are some photos of one of the strangest looking things—I think it is a fungus—that I encountered recently. It looks a little like coral or something that you would see underwater, although it was growing on a downed tree. The texture and shape remind me a little of cross-sections of a human brain.
Whatever it is, I really like its color, shape, and intricate contours.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
You beat me to it — they look like they should live underwater. I’ve never seen them and hope I do at some time!
That was definitely worth stopping for. Nice work.
Excellent macros, nothing better than a new fungus or shroom..:-)
This is a tough one! At first i thought it was an eastern cauliflower mushroom (Sparassis spathulata or Sparassis crispa) but what bothers me about that ID are the small hairs I can see in your photo. In the end, after thumbing through my mushroom books, I’m stumped. You get used to that when dealing with mushrooms!
Thanks for trying. If I can manage to find it again, I might try to get some photos from a different angle. Whatever it is, I thought it was cool-looking and unusual.
Lovely shots, Mike! I agree the first one definitely looks like something on the bottom of the ocean.. I like the second shot as well, it’s nice to see the two different angles and what big difference it makes how you look at things! 🙂
Thanks. You were one of the unnamed bloggers whose postings encouraged me to seek out this kind of a subject.
Amazing — it looks just like some of the corals I saw this week.