Elephant ear mushroom fungus

[trentu]

I was wondering if this will work for tinder fungus. I picked several lastnight but many seem too hard to use. I have them drying right now. Is this some of the fungus that can be used for a fire piston? Thanks.

 

[wade]

Hmmm, what I know as elephant ears have long gills on the under side and dont get hard. We pick and eat them all the time. Were these growing on a pine or some type of evergreen? If they were then its something else because the elephant ears Im familiar with cant grow on evergreens for some reason. We would always find them along rivers and creeks groing on hard-wood trees that were constantly wet or moist.

 

[trentu]

They were on dead stumps. They have a hard shell and the inside is moist but not soft. The fungus I really want to find is a black clumpy growth on birch trees but the article said these should work also.