Ringless Honey Mushroom

A cluster of ringless honey mushrooms, Desarmillaria caespitosa, growing directly from the trail. This mushroom is a parasitic and saprobic fungus found growing at the base of dead or dying hardwood trees, rotten hardwood stumps, or from dead roots below the ground like this cluster. 

This specimen was found on the Blue Square Trail at the Long Ridge Conservation Area, Sullivan, Missouri. This image is part of the article Trailheads: Portals to the Fungal Dimension.