Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are fungi, in the phylum Basidiomycota. They produce shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting bodies (conks) that lie in a close planar grouping of separate or interconnected horizontal rows. Brackets can range from only a single row of a few caps, to dozens of rows of caps that can weigh several hundred pounds. They are mainly found on trees, and resemble mushrooms. Some form annual fruiting bodies while others are perennial and grow larger year after year. Bracket fungi are typically tough and sturdy and produce their spores, called basidiospores, within the pores that typically make up the undersurface.

Puffballs come in many sizes, some as small as a marble and some as large as a basketball. The name "puffball" is used here to refer to three genera of fungi, Calvatia, Calbovista, and Lycoperdon. Their surfaces may be smooth, covered with small or large warts, or ornamented with spikes. Puffballs are usually white and round, and are attached to the ground with little or no apparent stem.

Toothed mushrooms get their name from the small spine or tooth like particles under the cap. They are not a scientific group of mushrooms, but a group of terrestrial and shelf mushrooms that share the tooth characteristic.

Bolete mushrooms, the common name given to mushrooms in the order Boletales, generally share the physical characteristic of having pores, rather than gills under the cap. Species in the genus boletus, which includes the King Bolete, are probably the best known.

The jelly fungi are diverse and complicated, representing an entire subclass (the Tremellomycetidae) of the Basidiomycetes. These fungi are so named because their foliose to irregularly branched fruiting body is, or appears to be, the consistency of jelly. Actually, many are somewhat rubbery and gelatinous. When dried, jelly fungi become hard and shriveled; when exposed to water, they return to their original form.

A number of the jelly fungi can be eaten raw; poisonous jelly fungi are rare. However, many species are not of a texture or taste that one would want to consume.

Lichens are composite, symbiotic organisms made up from members of as many as three kingdoms.

The dominant partner is a fungus. Fungi are incapable of making their own food. They usually provide for themselves as parasites or decomposers.

"Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture"-- lichenologist Trevor Goward.

Most slime mold are smaller than a few centimeters, but the very largest reach areas of up to thirty square meters, making them the largest undivided cells known. Many have striking colors such as yellow, brown and white.

Coral fungi, also sometimes called antler fungi, are mushrooms that are so named due to their resemblance to aquatic coral or antlers.

Initially all classified in the genus Clavaria, they were later split out into several genera including Clavicorona, Clavulina, Clavulinopsis, Macrotyphula, Ramaria and Ramariopsis.

Some superficially similar species are not so closely related; the fairy club genus Clavariadelphus belongs to the family Gomphaceae, while the genus Calocera is an entirely different organism of the class Dacrymycetes.

Coral fungi can be similar in appearance to jelly fungi. They are often brightly colored, mostly oranges, yellows, or reds, and usually grow in older mature forests. Some coral fungi are saprotrophic on decaying wood, while others are commensal or even parasitic.

A number of coral fungi are edible, although they should be cropped while young; when old, these fungi are fibrous or dry and woody.

All of these varieties were found within a few hundred feet of our door in Muskoka. There is something new every time we go out hunting. I have not yet identified everything in this Tabblo. I'm fairly certain that #6 and#7 are another type of Bracket Fungus, but not positive. If anyone knows the correct name for anything here, feel free to share! :)