You might have heard that last Sunday we went for a bear hunt in Mallorca. Whilst we did not spot any Cave Bears nor any other members of the Ursidae family, we did come across some weird-looking and eccentric organic matter in the form of Bracket Fungi, also known as Shelf Fungi and belonging to the Polypore family of mushrooms.

Bracket Fungi are tree parasites which usually grow on tree trunks, either live trees or dead wood. I cannot be sure that the specimen shown in today’s photo are edible, but some Bracket Fungi are fit for human consumption although they are known to be of a leathery texture and thus, need a long time of cooking. Bracket Fungi are similar to Ganodermatales mushrooms and seem to be useful in traditional herbal medicine and other medicinal application.

The photo was taken near Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 6th, 2011. The time was 16:01:16.