Yashroom Photography: Fungi of New York

Yashroom Photography: Fungi of New York Well... MOSTLY fungi (slime molds, too) of New York... but I wanted to keep the title short 😀

I like to take pictures of fungi. Sometimes they come out good.

I like to share their beauty.

Here's another green Russula, similar to one I posted yesterday... but note that this one has "cracks" on the cap wherea...
09/16/2026

Here's another green Russula, similar to one I posted yesterday... but note that this one has "cracks" on the cap whereas the other one didn't, which probably means that this one is Russula virescens, a.k.a. Green cracking russula...
..but maybe not! Because these features depend on environmental conditions!

Who knows. Let's just enjoy the beauty.

📍near Cold Spring, NY
📅 August 2026

Cozy little shroomster under a blanket 😍This is Coprinellus radians, or maybe C. domesticus, both of which are called th...
09/12/2026

Cozy little shroomster under a blanket 😍

This is Coprinellus radians, or maybe C. domesticus, both of which are called the Firerug Inkcap, and the rug. The mushroom grows from an ozonium, a visible mat of yellow-orange mycelium spread across wet, rotting wood.

That ozonium is basically the fungus showing some of its hidden body above ground. Most mushroom-forming fungi are mainly networks of hyphae, tiny threads running through the substrate, but here those threads gather into a shaggy orange carpet you can actually see.

As far as I know, we don't know for sure whether the ozonium has any practical use, or what that use may be.

ID note: Coprinellus radians and Coprinellus domesticus both make this showy ozonium, and they are best separated with microscopy. The main difference is spore size, so “Coprinellus sect. Domestici” or “C. radians/domesticus group” can be the more honest label from a photo. The other wrinkle is that (almost?) all sequenced observations of this kind of mushroom from the US are C. radians, so whenever I don't feel like getting into all that, this is what I call it.

📍Riverdale, Bronx, NY
📅 June 2025

Black tongues with tiny hairs. 😛Trichoglossum, the hairy earth tongues, are small black ascomycete fungi that look like ...
09/10/2026

Black tongues with tiny hairs. 😛

Trichoglossum, the hairy earth tongues, are small black ascomycete fungi that look like little clubs or tongues poking out of moss, soil, or forest litter. They are not gilled or pored mushrooms. Their spores are made in microscopic sacs called asci on the surface of the dark “tongue.”

The “hairy” part is real, but usually not obvious unless you use a hand lens or are looking at a macro photo. Trichoglossum species have tiny dark bristles called setae on the spore-bearing surface and stem, giving them a velvety look.

Species ID is the tricky part. A crisp photo may get you to Trichoglossum, but the species call usually needs spore examination, and DNA work suggests some familiar names may hide multiple lookalikes.

📍Harriman State Park, NY
📅 August 2026

Awww look at these purple fellas being all cute on a tiny little moss hill!!This is Cortinarius iodes or iodeoides, one ...
09/08/2026

Awww look at these purple fellas being all cute on a tiny little moss hill!!

This is Cortinarius iodes or iodeoides, one of the purple webcaps.

📍Harriman State Park, NY
📅 August 2026

Red, yellow, then blue!!Baorangia is a small genus of boletes, the pore-making mushrooms that look sponge-bottomed inste...
09/06/2026

Red, yellow, then blue!!

Baorangia is a small genus of boletes, the pore-making mushrooms that look sponge-bottomed instead of gilled. The genus was carved out of the old giant Boletus bucket after DNA work showed that many “boletes” were not as closely related as their matching cap-and-pore design made them seem.

The name Baorangia is nicely literal: in Chinese, bao means “thin” and rang means “hymenium" (spore-bearing tissue layer) referring to the unusually shallow tube layer under the cap. You can see that nicely in the second picture.

In the Northeastern U.S., the familiar face of this genus is usually the Baorangia bicolor complex, the red-and-yellow boletes (a.k.a. Bicolor Boletes) often found with oaks. These are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they partner with tree roots underground instead of decomposing wood. 🌳

The color chemistry is part of the show. Many boletes bruise blue when injured because yellowish bolete pigments can oxidize into blue compounds, basically a tiny chemical reaction happening where the mushroom is touched or cut.

📍Harriman State Park, NY
📅 August 2026

Happy World Beard Day! It's today!!And I guess these fungal cuties right here kinda have fluffy beards?? Foot-beards??? ...
09/05/2026

Happy World Beard Day! It's today!!

And I guess these fungal cuties right here kinda have fluffy beards?? Foot-beards??? Sounds weird but let's not impose our body plans on this different kingdom. It's just a beard. End of story.

I don't know what this species is called... maybe some Collybiopsis sp.? Well, they'll be sequenced as a part of the Summer Continental Mycoblitz, so we'll find out!

📍near Cold Spring, NY
📅 August 2026

WOOOWWW this was a feast for my eyes!! 😍These are the so-called waxcaps. Hygrocybe sp., possibly Hygrocybe miniata, but ...
09/03/2026

WOOOWWW this was a feast for my eyes!! 😍

These are the so-called waxcaps. Hygrocybe sp., possibly Hygrocybe miniata, but I'm not sure. Tiny red and orange waxcaps are tricky, and H. miniata has several close visual neighbors.

Hygrocybe are the classic waxcaps: small, bright, often glossy mushrooms with thick, waxy-feeling gills and white spores. In eastern North America, many show up in woods, mossy spots, and leaf litter.

The “waxy” part is not just a cute name. Their gills often look thick, soft, and slightly glassy, which gives them a very different feel from the papery gills of many other small mushrooms. Some are scarlet, orange, yellow, greenish, gray, or almost translucent.

Their ecology is still more mysterious than you might expect. Waxcaps were once treated mostly as simple decomposers, but studies suggest some may interact with living plant roots or other soil partners, making their lifestyle more complicated than “small mushroom eats dead stuff.”

📍near Cold Spring, NY
📅 August 2026

A long-legged pore-y fella!This is (probably) Leccinum longicurvipes. It's a bolete, which means it releases spores from...
09/01/2026

A long-legged pore-y fella!

This is (probably) Leccinum longicurvipes. It's a bolete, which means it releases spores from a spongy pore surface under the cap instead of from gills. Its cap is often yellow-orange to brown-orange and sticky or slimy when fresh (LOOOK AT HOW IT GLISTENS!!), while the pores start pale yellow and can age toward olive-yellow.

The name longicurvipes means “long curved foot,” and it fits. One of the best field clues is a relatively slender stalk that often curves near the base, with tiny rough dots that darken from yellowish to reddish brown as the mushroom ages.

Ecologically, this is a tree-partner mushroom. Like other Leccinum species, it is ectomycorrhizal, meaning the fungus connects with tree roots underground and trades water and minerals for sugars from the tree.

📍Harriman State Park, NY
📅 August 2026

Mmm... fall is just around the corner!! 🍂🍁This is Hypholoma sp., probably H. lateritium, a.k.a. the Brick Cap.📍Inwood (M...
08/30/2026

Mmm... fall is just around the corner!! 🍂🍁

This is Hypholoma sp., probably H. lateritium, a.k.a. the Brick Cap.

📍Inwood (Manhattan), New York City
📅 November 2025

Calycina citrina (a.k.a. Yellow Fairy Cups) is a tiny yellow cup fungus that fruits in dense clusters on decaying logs a...
08/28/2026

Calycina citrina (a.k.a. Yellow Fairy Cups) is a tiny yellow cup fungus that fruits in dense clusters on decaying logs and stumps. Each cup is smaller than a peppercorn, but when hundreds show up together, they can look like someone sprinkled lemon zest across the wood.

It is saprobic, meaning it feeds on dead material, helping break down woody debris and cycle nutrients back into the forest floor. Its favorite stage is wet, softened wood where the bark has often already fallen away.

This is an ascomycete, so the bright little discs are spore-making surfaces lined with microscopic sacs called asci. In other words, every “lemon dot” is a tiny launch pad.

📍 near White Plains, NY
📅 September 2025

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