Fantastic and Unique Shapes of Mushrooms

This species looks weird. As its name implies, this fungus look likes an octopus. Clathrus archeri, commonly known as Octopus Stinkhorn, is endemic to Australia and Tasmania. The young fungus erupts from a suberumpent egg by forming into four to seven elongated slender arms initially erect and attached at the top. In maturity it smells of putrid flesh.

I find this species of mushroom pretty, it is known as the Coral fungi, also sometimes called antler fungi. These are mushrooms that are so named due to their resemblance to aquatic coral or antlers.

It's not the color of this species of mushroom that makes it unique but rather for its bioluminescent properties, it glows in the dark. The jack o'lantern mushroom (Omphalotus olearius) is an orange to yellow gill mushroom that to an untrained eye appears similar to some chanterelles

This mushroom that look likes noodles or pom-pom are known to a variety of name like Lion's Mane Mushroom, Bearded Tooth Mushroom, Hedgehog Mushroom, Bearded Hedgehog Mushroom, or Bearded Tooth Fungus. It is an edible mushroom in the tooth fungus group. In the wild, these mushrooms are common during late summer and fall on dead hardwoods, particularly American Beech.

These balls are actually mushrooms. Finding a mushroom like this in the meadows is somewhat bizarre because Calvatia gigantea, commonly known as the Giant puffball resembles a ball. It is a puffball mushroom commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests worldwide usually in late summer and autumn. It is common throughout Europe and North America.

Another weird-looking mushroom is the species called the Earthstars. It look likes a popcorn with a big nut in the middle.

Eat this mushroom while it's young and avoid eating it when it grows old. This distinct species of mushroom called the gem-studded puffball or devil's snuff-box (Lycoperdon perlatum) is a moderate sized puffball mushroom with a round fruiting body, tapering to a wide stalk. Gem-studded puffballs are considered to be a choice edible mushroom when young and the gleba is homogeneous and white. They become inedible as they mature: the gleba becomes yellow-tinged, and then finally develops into a mass of powdery olive-green spores.

This mushroom with an unusual shape is not recommendable for consumption. Its shape is like a pitcher or a trumpet is known as Gomphus floccosus, sometimes called the shaggy-, scaly-, or woolly chanterelle or woolly gomphus.  This species of mushroom can be found in coniferous woodlands across Eastern Asia, from Korea to Pakistan, and in North America.