Two in one

I hit the fungus motherlode today at lunchtime, it was worth getting wet for as I had gone out without a jacket. It was hard to know which to choose but I went with this as it is two in one.

The large rubbery looking thing is Auricularia auricula-judae otherwise known as Judas Ear. It grows mostly on dead Elder though not exclusively so. Tempus Fugit posted a particularly scary looking one a few months ago. It is edible and often used in Chinese cooking. There is a slightly odd folk tale connected with this name - it was thought that Judas hung himself from an Elder tree and that the fungus is Judas' returned spirit.

The funky black mycelia behind it is some kind of honey fungus or Armillaria. It is parasitic and can cause a great deal of damage as it will grow on living as well as dead wood. Some species are bioluminescent. Apparently in WW1, soldiers used to wear it in their hats as the faint light was visible to comrades in their own trenches but not to the enemy a little further away. There is a story from WW2 that during the blackout some wood yards had to cover their stock with tarpaulin to black out the light from the honey fungus!