Orelha de pau

I guess I missed the stump comment.

The smooth, rather pruinose (powdered) purple brown hymenium, the whitish, pubescent exterior and the substrate (wood stump) lead me to Auricularia or Schizophyllum. Helvella doesn't grow directly from wood, as far as I know of. I haven't seen Schizophyllum amplum in reallife yet, but I do know it should be a bit smaller, but the rest should fit the description. As it comes to Auricularia, it is a genus with quite some topical species that are unknown to me. But the habitus and habitat are correct for said genus.

Hmmm. I don't know, I would have a hard time believing it is Schizophyllum amplum. I have only found that species once so I could very well be wrong. I assumed this was some kind of wacky Helvella.

I would say this is either Auricularia sp. or Schizophyllum amplum (formerly Auriculariopsis ampla, but moleculair research has shown that this mushroom is closely related to Split Gill Fungus, or Schizophyllum commune). Eitherway it is a Basidiomycete, the first being a Heterobasidiomycete specifically (different types of basidia, which are the microscopic, in this case fork-like septate, structures that form the spores). Very cool and unusual spotting!

Thank you RandyL! This beautiful fungus was growing on a small stump that was in the backyard.

Wow, that is awesome! I'm not really sure what to call it other than ascomycete at this point. I will look into it.