A decaying 125+ year old pin oak was removed on this site a few years ago. What you can't see underneath the surface are the remains of the ground up tree roots. This abundant source of food in the soil has ensured the fungus's arrival and this colony of mushrooms is obviously thriving in this semi-shady location. 'Shrooms are amazing and bizarre, non-flowering plants that can spring up overnight like these did. Those you can see are the visible part of more complex organisms. They are the fruits of a larger vegetative system called mycelium which is composed of tiny filaments that continue deep down into the soil. I think these are Russula mutabilis, one of the more stinky members of the mushroom family, fairly common in eastern North America.
I'm not unhappy these appeared since their presence means the decomposition of the stump below will accelerate, quickly turning it into food for the plants above. You can't get much more natural than that!
Feast on some of these creatively descriptive mushroom names: Stinky Squid, Dead Man’s Fingers, Destroying Angels, Jellied False Coral, Gem Studded Puffball, to name a few. A good source of photos can be found at the Fungi Gallery.
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