Oct 26, 2007

First-time Fungus

I don't post very often on non-animals. But when I'm forwarded photos of something called the 'Bleeding Tooth Fungus,' I have to take action. This mushroom earns its name from two characteristics:

1) Bleeding: they ooze a red liquid.
2) Tooth: they grow little 4 mm teeth on their underside.
3) Fungus: it's a mushroom.

You really can't ask for a more appropriate name. I probably should have saved this post for Halloween, but I couldn't resist.

Thanks for the photos, Kelly. I feel a little bit sick now--my world just got a bit more disgusting.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

They look like mishapen jelly donuts or coffee cakes gone horribly wrong. I bet they are poisonous...what do you think the 'blood' tastes like? : p

Sherry/SofN

Anonymous said...

I wanna see what they look like underneath, but I can't seem to find a photo of that view anywhere online.

thecandiedmango said...

I think you listed more than two characteristics, sir. Unless you're blending some of them together.

Anonymous said...

Here's a picture with the teeth. It also says they taste peppery, so someone's eaten them and lived to tell the tale. Saw another page that claimed the ooze is used to dye wool, and yet another that called this monstrosity "Strawberries and Cream."

Anonymous said...

Now this is disgusting. Wombat, you have outdone yourself.

Arallyn said...

ew ew ew. the bottom part looks like the rumen lining in a cow.

Unknown said...

aaaand... I've officially been squicked by UO. It apparently took oozing fungus to do it. Eurgh.

bats :[ said...

Too bad these aren't more well-known...I bet with a little ingenuity and jelly beans and such, you could make cupcakes that look just like this!

Anonymous said...

What I want to know is WHY it exudes bloody-like droplets. What's the benefit.
I also have to say that if I found one of these grossities under a tree, I would have to stick my finger into a droplet (actually my tongue to see if the droplet does taste peppery but even writing that kind of grosses me out).

Anonymous said...

Wow. If these were a horror movie special effect, I'd say that they were going over-the-top into ridiculousness. Truth is stranger than fiction, every time.

Danielle Lea said...

Normally, when I look at your site, I think to myself how creepy and cool the pictures are. This fungus just makes me SICK though. blech. Looking at it is enough to make me want to vomit.

Yuck, thanks for the gross post!

:)

Meirav Rath said...

I donno, all that shiny red fluid and that bright pink of it...kinda looks like something out of a bad shojou series.

Anonymous said...

I can't decide if these remind me of bloody chunks of flesh (yuck!) or a punctured jelly donut (Yum!)

Either way, it is amazing stuff like this even exists.

Arachnophile said...

I actually think they look NUMMY! Not ugly at all. ;) Cool fungus, I do need to see pictures of the "teeth" beneath. ;)

Anonymous said...

pkeli said "What I want to know is WHY it exudes bloody-like droplets. What's the benefit."

Maybe you really don't want to know why...

Long ago, on a day just like this one, a hiker was hiking through a deep dark forest. Having run out of trailmix, he was feeling a bit peckish when he spied what LOOKED like innocent (though mutated) jelly donuts. "Mmmmmm... cherry filling...", he murmered as he put his finger in a pool of blood red gooey ooze and brought it to his lips."Hmmm...peppery cherry..." but before he could finish his sentence, he collapsed on the side of the trail.

This made the Bleeding Tooth Fungi (which of course is what the helly donuts actually were) very happy. If you were there, with them, in the middle of the dark forest, alone, I'm sure you could have heard them...laughing.. evilly .. as you cringed in disbelief behind a tree and watched the terror unfold....

Hours later, another hiker was hiking through the deep dark forest. He paused as he noticed a huge mound by the side of the trail covered with mutated jelly donuts...strange how it was shaped LIKE A HUMAN CORPSE.

Okay. We now return you to your normal, ugly viewing. Happy Halloween...

Bwabwabwabwa!

Sherry at SofN

Arachnophile said...

ROTF - "Anony" - NICE fire-side scary story version of this fungus' natural history! You made my All Saints Day. ;p

Anonymous said...

Sherry--
Now I REALLY want to go find some of these. And bring a friend... heh heh heh

Nonexistant Black Feather said...

Other fungi have droplets too, albeit smaller and less red. In fact quite clear. I've seen them in the forest in Oregon. (can't remember what kind, I'm out of practice) Although, it could have been dew? I dunno.

Anonymous said...

mmm... jellied pancakes, just the way nature intended

Anonymous said...

My little brother had one of those growing out of his ear.

Jen said...

so pretty!!!

Anonymous said...

i kinda wan to eat it.....

Anonymous said...

It's not disgusting, looks like marshmallow.