Help identifying an indoor fungus, please.

[Active Gawker]

First hello to everyone on this forum, I hope to learn and eventually contribute to this section. Learning is needed at this point.

Could anyone help identifying this fungus that started growing in my house when it was unoccupied for a few weeks? The house was damp before the recent weather, and there has been mushroom trouble before. It seems to spread throught the walls and its spores were found quite a large distance from the actual fungus, anywhere on the ground floor where the doors had not been closed. (Very annoying.)

The spores are orange, as you'd guess from the fungus, it is very floppy when removed and the specimen shown here was over 30cm on the straight sides. The shape is because it has been growing in a corner under a shelf. When disturbed there was a distinct smell of mushroom, stronger than the standard cultivated mushroom. On one of the pictures you can see a few lines of moisture running around the fungus.

Any help with this would be appreciated. It's interesting and I'd like to know what it is, although I don't want to share my house with it!







Personally I think it looks a bit like a slice of pizza with red tomato and a white crust...

[AlanS]

Originally Posted by Active Gawker

Any help with this would be appreciated. It's interesting and I'd like to know what it is, although I don't want to share my house with it!

Sorry mate, but, no, you really, really don't want to share your house with it.

It is Serpula lacrymans, the Dry-rot Fungus.

Fruit-bodies are very variable in shape, depending on where they form, but that very wrinkled brown surface and the white margin with drops of liquid are characteristic.

As you have found, it releases large quantities of brown spores, but the fungus has probably developed from the original site of the rot by forming "mycelial strands" that are able to grow quite long distances through brickwork and plaster.

Welcome to the forum but I hope any other fungi you post for identification will not have the same sinister importance.

Alan

[Active Gawker]

Thanks a lot for identifying it for me, the variation of the fruit bodies is probably what threw me. I had a look at various rot fungi information but none of the the pictures looked quite like this. It's been treated and hopefully wont be back soon.