A multitude of one

Mushrooms grow on soil, on mossy rocks, on fir cones, on old logs. In Cathedral Grove, we passed many growing on tree trunks.

The stalk grows out horizontally, then curves upwards.

All of these (all of the photos) seem to be the same species; creamy gills, white rings, smooth brown, flattish cap.

They grow out of crevices in the old bark.

The stalks on these are much darker, and the caps are freckled.

More freckled caps, growing on a mossy trunk.

Showing off the gills.

In my little guide, Common Mushrooms of the Northwest, I found only one that seems to match; the Honey Mushrooms, Armillaria mellea complex. (12 related species). (Probably Armillaria ostoyae.)

These grow on standing wood, or buried wood near conifers and the mushrooms we see are a small part of the huge hidden body of the fungus; one individual may cover hundreds of acres, spreading from tree to tree. It is possible that all the ones we saw on the walk through Cathedral Grove were outcrops of the same organism.