Our newf puppy recently experienced snow for the first time! She absolutely loved it!

In only a few short months, it will be springbeauty rust season here in the north central Appalachian 🥳! This disease is caused by Puccinia mariae-wilsoniae, an obligate fungal parasite of Carolina springbeauty (Claytonia caroliniana)! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

With all the horrible injustices happening across the U.S., maybe y’all could use something uplifting. Please meet our Newfoundland puppy Matilda who came home with us today!

Hot Fuss is an undeniably fantastic album, but especially for treadmill running.

Love the way these eyelash cups look against the decaying beech leaf they were growing on! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Thinking about that time I discovered Squidward in an eyelash pixie cup fungus! #FungiFriends

I mean who doesn’t like a chunky perennial target canker on sassafras? #fungi

Yep that about sums it up!

Most of last year was about The Book, but I did lots more science writing, too! Here's a 🧵of a few of my favorite stories, one for each month of 2025. The first is about geochemists solving a centuries old "cold case," identifying the volcano that erupted in 1831 and cooled the planet 🧪

I can see why most people would be like “oh hell nah,” but it’s probably worth mentioning here that I’m a guy who also happens to be a mycologist by profession so I’m calling this a win! @merriam-webster.com

2025 sucked. In 2026, we are taking back our science! We are excited to launch our Substack: The Science Fight Club. Read our first post, written by @cdelawalla.bsky.social, a review of 2025, a preview of 2026, and a big call to action. open.substack.com/pub/sciencef...

Xylaria is one of those fungal genera I enjoy seeing as much in culture as I enjoy seeing it fruiting in its natural habitats! #FungiFriends

Not one single person has ever said to me “no, I prefer you don’t show me the underside of that splitgill mushroom you photographed.” So I continue to do so without guilt or fear or regret. #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

After ten years of thinking it was gone forever, I rediscovered my PhD diploma in my basement! 🥳

I apologize for this post not being about mushrooms, but our newf puppy just got her first bath and she is borderline cute 😍! She comes home in just over 2 weeks! 🥳

Remember #mycophiles, keep an eye out for cute Peteserpes (left) & Pseudopolydesmus (right) millipedes when you are turning over logs to look for winter 🍄‍🟫. Also, put the logs back the way you found them after taking 📸 as they represent important overwintering habitats! @derekhennen.bsky.social

Look at these lovely Oak Pins (Cudoniella acicularis)! Though they look like mushrooms they are actually cup fungi (Ascomycota)!

Countless colors and textures out today on the Ferncliff peninsula! #Mushrooms

Look I hope none of you ever get butt rot, but if you find yourself in such a situation just hope it’s caused by the butt rot fungus Serpula himantioides. At least then you can still brag how cool it looks! #Mushrooms

I was not expecting to find these beautiful parasitic fungi today, but I think such unexpected discoveries are what draws us to the woods in the first place! Here’s a few angles of Tolypocladium longisegmentatum! Now get out there and discover something for yourselves! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Found an incredible specimen of the Moth Urchin Fungus (Akanthomyces aculeatus) today in a hemlock ravine! Who doesn’t appreciate a good insect pathogen? #FungiFriends

Found a giant patch of the bizarre and equally beautiful Collared Calostoma (Calostoma lutescens). I observed this mycorrhizal fungus in this same exact spot 5 years ago but hadn’t been back to check on it until today! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Xylaria sp fungi on a dead leaf. NWT Canada. About 2 to 3cm high. #fungi #fungus #fungifriends

Winter fungus vibes! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Found some Scarlet Waxcrust (Phlebia coccineofulva) on an American hornbeam stem! 😍 #Mushrooms

One thing is certain, culturing fungi from wood is always an adventure! #FungiFriends

The funny thing about the Willow Bracket (Phellinus igniarius) is that I’ve never seen it on willow, but I have seen it at high elevation on birch two dozen times! #Mushrooms

Those “acorns” are full of “smoke”! #Fungi #Mushrooms

Wait for it….💦! #guttation #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

What do you all think about my festive petree plate 🧫🌲

It was almost impossible to shake the thought that I too would be consumed by the polypore-bedazzled spruce tree. #Mushrooms

Mushroom lovers are always telling stories of how excited they were to find a particular mushroom. I’d rather tell you the story of how shocked this one cedar apple rust fungal gall was to catch me jiggling its telial horns! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Holiday reading with a science twist 🎄 Plantopia host Matt Kasson explores the surprisingly weird history of mistletoe in @popsci.com—with insights from APS President Carolee Bull. Read more: https://bit.ly/3KC8yO8 #PlantScience #Mistletoe

I’m super excited to share my latest piece for @popsci.com on the history of mistletoe! Enjoy and share widely please! www.popsci.com/science/hist...

Found the cutest oak mazegill (Fomitopsis quercina) ever! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

I apologize in advance because this is not a fungus or mushroom post, but we met our Newfoundland puppy yesterday and we have not stopped smiling. Maybe she will make you smile too!

Northern Red Belt (Fomitopsis mounceae) tucked in for the long winter! #Mushrooms

Such a beautiful 😍 Birch Polypore (Fomitopsis betulina) I spotted in southwest Pennsylvania earlier this fall! #Mushrooms

Now that’s one helluva mistletoe tree! 💋

An oldie but a goodie 😂! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

Me stopping every stressed parent in the mall holiday shopping to hand them a mushroom fact. #Mushrooms

If you’ve never had a chance to see Penicillium vulpinum in culture, check this beauty out! It produces these iconic matchstick-like reproductive structures! #FungiFriends

Nothing beats stumbling upon the perfect wood decay fungus in an otherwise cold and seemingly lifeless landscape. Look at this beautiful Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) I found! #Mushrooms #FungiFirst

Not sure if these polypores I found on paper birch in New Hampshire are Northern Red Belt (Fomitopsis mounceae) or some other closely related Fomitopsis species, but I adore how red their belts are compared to other ones I’ve seen on spruce across the central Appalachians! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends

This unidentified fungal culture 🍄‍🟫🧫is just stunning from top to bottom! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #mushrooms

Trichoderma is a lot of things, but subtle is not among them! #FungiFriends

You know you are obsessed with mushrooms when it takes you over a minute to realize this bird is not a mushroom.

No one ever said “I wish my maple had butt rot,” but that won’t stop it from happening! The fungus responsible for this particular butt rot is Kretzschmaria deusta or the brittle cinder fungus! In earlier growth stages you can see a dusty gray mycelium with distinct white borders. #Mushrooms #Fungi

Ok so this is super cool: I found what I thought was the Honeydew Eater fungus (Scorias spongiosa) on woolly alder aphids. However, based on what I read, it seems like Honeydew Eater is specific to the beech blight aphid. So is this a potentially novel Scorias sp.? #FungiFriends

The winter fungi did not disappoint here in the West Virginia Highlands! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends