Stats

Lifespan: A few weeks
Size: Small
Diet: Decomposer
Biome: Temperate woodland
Range: Northern Hemisphere
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Spores
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

The scurfy twiglet is a small tan-brown mushroom that pops up in mulch, woodchips, and lawns almost year-round, even fruiting after light frosts when most other fungi have gone dormant. Its cap starts convex and scaly ("scurfy") before flattening out and fading to a paler, more translucent hue as it ages.

Life cycle

1.
spore
A microscopic spore drifts on air or water and germinates where moisture and substrate meet.
2.
mycelium
A thread-like mycelium spreads through the substrate, breaking it down into nutrients.
3.
fruiting body
A mature fruiting body emerges to release the next generation of spores.

Learn more

View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Tubariaceae
Genus: Tubaria
Species: Tubaria furfuracea