There’s over a foot of snow on the ground and mushrooms are sprouting in my backyard. Growing on dead Elm trees these mushrooms are February fresh. It takes some mild winter temperatures but with nights still dipping below freezing I’d say they earned their common name, Winter Mushroom.

A single mushroom emerges from a crack in the dead Elm’s bark. The lichen and moss gives you an idea how small this specimen is. Flammulina velutipes caps can grow to 1 -2 inches.

I did a post back in September when Velvet Foot Mushroom was a more appropriate common name. On that post you can see some of the velvety stems.

A few caps were visible in a space between some peeling bark and the tree trunk.

The photo above is linked to a larger size (1024 x 768) for a closer look or to use as a desktop background. The thumbnail image is slightly different and links to an image more suited for a wide screen resolution – 1680 x 1050

Most of the growth is taking place under the bark. This is where they more closely resemble cultivated Flammulina velutipes known as Enoki mushrooms or Enokitake with long thin stems and tiny white caps.

• Desktop Wallpaper , Mushrooms
• Comments(6)

6 Responses

1. rainfield61 Says:
   February 27th, 2010 at 6:31 pm

   You have the winter moss and winter mushroom, I think the next to come should be snowman.

2. miss m Says:
   February 27th, 2010 at 6:33 pm

   What have I started ? I hope this is not using up too much of your precious storage space, John. Anyway thx for the WS desktop !

   I should have a look see if any velvet foot are growing around here.

3. cindee Says:
   February 27th, 2010 at 8:22 pm

   Cool(-: This has been the year for mushrooms here! They are everywhere!!!!! Moss too!!!

4. Ratty Says:
   February 28th, 2010 at 1:45 am

   I like the shine on these mushrooms. Until now I assumed finding mushrooms in the winter with all of this snow might be impossible.

5. Monica the Garden Faerie Says:
   February 28th, 2010 at 3:39 pm

   That first mushroom looks like a nose! It’s so cool that some mushrooms grow this time of year–I wouldn’t've thought so.

6. Joy Says:
   March 13th, 2010 at 7:30 pm

   OK … did younotice I am trying to catch up on your adventures here .. I’m making myself dizzy doing it ! haha
   The mushroom looks like it is trying to crawl out of there !
   Any UFO sightings in this area ??
   Joy .. wink wink

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