Mushroom?

[AlittleSalt]

My brother told me I have to see this weird mushroom, so I grabbed my camera. Here is what it looks like. The other is just as big.

[Worth1]

I want one.
Worth

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

My brother told me I have to see this weird mushroom, so I grabbed my camera. Here is what it looks like. The other is just as big.

Don't eat it! . Jimbo

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Jimbotomateo

Don't eat it! . Jimbo

mmm, but it looks so good I'm not going to touch it.

It would look nice to have them in a flower garden though.

[Worth1]

I bet you would get sicker than a dog a die if you were lucky.
Worth

[Nattybo!]

that first one reminds me of one of those decorated day of the dead skulls.

So...did ya get a stick and poke it? (I would have ).

[AlittleSalt]

As the Beetles song said: Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. So I left it alone

[Randall]

I'd probably call it Scleroderma texense from the photos but you'd need more info to be sure.

A puffball/earthball mushroom of some variety.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Randall

I'd probably call it Scleroderma texense from the photos but you'd need more info to be sure.

A puffball/earthball mushroom of some variety.

That is what I am thinking too.
I also would expect to see a caterpillar smoking a pipe/hookah sitting on it like in Alice in Wonderland.

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Randall

I'd probably call it Scleroderma texense from the photos but you'd need more info to be sure.

A puffball/earthball mushroom of some variety.

The ugly brown puffball is actually in all three pictures. I found a site that calls them Texas Earthball (Scleroderma Texense) http://www.backyardnature.net/n/x/texearth.htm There's a link on that site the explains info more technically.

[Randall]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

The ugly brown puffball is actually in all three pictures. I found a site that calls them Texas Earthball (Scleroderma Texense) http://www.backyardnature.net/n/x/texearth.htm There's a link on that site the explains info more technically.

Right on. The entire genus Scleroderma has some peculiar looking species. The "tough Puffballs" some people call them. All of the Earthballs are wild looking.

@Worth Hahahaha

[Worth1]

The organism as a whole is living under the soil they are the largest living things in the world.
What we see is the spore producer popping up when conditions are right.
Poison or not if it weren't for these fungi we would all die or more correctly not even be here anyway to die.
In a way they are the very foundations of life on earth.
Worth

[Randall]

Sure enough. If the mushroom was the "flower" the mycelial network would be the "plant." The Armillaria ostoyae mycelial mat in the Blue Mountains is the largest living organism discovered (so far).

White rot fungus and all of the primary decomposers like Armillaria spp. definitely get the ball rolling. We have coal because fungi and microbes that could ingest lignin and cellulose had yet to evolve or "arrive" (que Twilight Zone Theme) when all of that wood just piled up with carbon bonds intact.

[Frank D]

The top picture----"This is your brain on drugs!"