Glorious Gills

[best appreciated at full size against black]

Down in our lower forest is an area which is darker and cooler than other places on our property. I was looking for mushrooms and decided to look under a log to see what I might find. To my amazement, I found this amazing sight, along with two others! All three mushrooms are totally bizarre to me! Because these mushrooms were growing under a log, they grew upside down! This one and another had this shape, showing just the gills, and the other one looks like a normal mushroom except that it's upside down! (I'll show the others in the next few days)

The underside of a mushroom is called the gill or lamella. They are used for dispersing spores, and because they are so distinctive, they are important for identifying its species. For more information about mushroom gills, take a look at Wiki's page here! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamella_(mycology)
I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too!

Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr!
www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/

This image was taken in February, 2012.