The Nimrod and the Swamm

  Irpex lacteus  is a very white resupinate polypore with a hairy cap that is seldom more than 1 cm from its hardwood substrate. The fertile surface is made up of teeth that can be up to 5 mm long. The Ochre Spreading Tooth is nearly identical, just not as white. Irpex  can mean "rake" or "wolf's teeth," and lacteus means "milky." So I like to call this Milky Wolf's Teeth. It's also called Milk-white Toothed Polypore.

A 2018 article in Persoonia   lists four new species of Hohenbuehelia, a genus in the Pleurotaceae. The article also contains a dichotomous key for the genus. Based on that, I am calling this Hohenbuehelia mastrucata , but I might be wrong.  These were growing in clusters and shelves a few feet down from some  Mock Oysters . Both caused a white rot on a fairly well-decayed hardwood tree in bottomland. The caps were 1-5 cm wide with inrolled margins. The colors ranged from dark brown to light tan. The caps had gelatinous patches and were tomentose near the point of attachment, which was usually a single point, though it was hard to tell given how soft the mushrooms and the wood were. (We've had several days of freezes and thaws.)   The gills were tan to light tan. The taste was indistinct. The spore print was white and the spores measured 9 µm.  Other possibilities: H. grisea ,  H. atrocoerulea, and, as might be expected,  H. atrocoerulea var. gris...

  Seen from afar, I thought these might be Chicken of the Woods, given their bright orange color, but then I saw they had gills. The Mock Oyster or Orange Oyster or Stinking Orange Oyster ( Phyllotopsis nidulans ) is saprobic on hardwood and conifers and causes a white rot. The caps (2-8 cm wide) are fuzzy. The gills are close, and the spore print is a very pale peach. The spores measure 7 µm. Mock Oysters grow in clusters and shelves and lack stems. They're supposed to have a foul odor, but I didn't notice it, though it was detectable on older specimens. Previously, this mushroom was in the Pleurotus genus, which it closely resembles in all but color. Phyllotopsis means "resembling a leaf," and  nidulans means "little nest."