Rewilding My Lot

As I was walking through the garden recently, I spotted a cluster of bright orange mushrooms on the wood pile. A dusting of orange spores have colored the surrounding wood, which gives the patch an overall orange glow. They were definitely eye-catching, so of course I took photos and tried to identify them.

I think that these mushrooms are Scaly Rustgill (Gymnopilus sapineus), or if not exactly that, then something closely related. This mushroom generally grows on rotting wood, preferring conifers (although as it happens, most of the logs on my pile are actually mesquite). For anyone interested, there are photos of the wood pile when it was first created in July 2023 in this old post. It has collapsed a fair bit since then.

Here are some more detailed images of the mushrooms. The plant clambering over the pile is Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora).