Icy waterfalls...

 

 

 

 

On the trail in DuPont Forest - mushrooms everywhere...

 

The world of mushrooms -

quite different from flowers, not only because they are not so colorful, bright and visible ...

Mushrooms, like flowers, are very varied. 

They come in various shapes and sizes - they are small and sometimes even gigantic.

More than 80% of mushrooms grow around trees, so forest is a good place to find mushrooms and other fungi. They like darkness, dampness, rotting wood, and fallen leaves. 

I don't know much about mushrooms, I can't recognize them, I have never picked them, but I appreciate their natural beauty and a bit of mystery which they represent ...

The mushrooms presented in this post I found on one trail in DuPont Forest.

Using pictures from the book "A Field Guide to Mushrooms of th Carolinas" I recognized several mushrooms that could be on the trail: Honey Mushrooms, Crossveind Troop Mushrooms, Scaly Pholiota ...

 

Lady's Tresses orchids

 

Striped Gentian flower

Blue Rige Parkway - Skinny Dip falls

  

Mushrooms 2020 - Coral-like mushrooms

 

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Cauliflower mushroom -  Sparassis -  is a type of parasitic and saprobic mushrooms characterized by their unique shape and appearance. This appearance can be described as similar to a sea sponge or a head of cauliflower from which it has been given its popular name.

 Two of these, the Easter and Rooting Cauliflower Mushrooms, are among the largest and most easily identified of choice edible mushrooms. 
They are increasingly cultivated and being sold in Korea, Japan, United States and Australia.

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Coral mushrooms also known as mushroom corals, coralomorphs and mushroom anemones. They look like coral from the ocean floor and appear in clusters of small, thin "branches". Some types of Coral mushrooms grow on wood, although most of them are found on the ground.  There are many different types of coral fungi, all of which have some kinds of upright branches.

I don't even try to identify the individual coral mushrooms - there are a lot of them and they are very diverse.
I have found a couple articles about coral mushrooms which may be helpful -

 here and here.