Strawberries and cream

I've just hit the time of day (early evening) when the sun comes into my computer room at just the wrong angle and plays havoc with what I'm viewing on my monitor. So, I can't tell if this photo is too dark or not - have a feeling it is, in which case I will have to brighten and replace.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first spotted a small splash of pink among the mosses on our day in the forest at West Bragg Creek, Kananaskis, two days ago. Then I noticed the blood-red droplets looking rather like cherries in a muffin or cupcake : ) My friends had just passed by the spot a couple of minutes earlier, so I called them over. When Doug was quite excited, I knew that I had found something of interest, LOL! Hydnellum peckii is also known as Bleeding Hydnellum, the bleeding tooth fungus, the red-juice tooth, the Devil's tooth, or Peck's hydnum, but I kind of like "Strawberries and cream" best of all : )

"Hydnellum peckii is an inedible fungus, and a member of the genus Hydnellum, a group of species that produce spores on the surface of vertical spines or teeth that cover the undersurface of the cap .... Young, moist fruit bodies can "bleed" a bright red juice that contains a mushroom pigment known to have anticoagulant properties similar to heparin. Although the fruit bodies are readily identifiable when young, they become brown and nondescript when they age. Hydnellum peckii is a mycorrhizal species, and forms mutually beneficial relationships with a variety of coniferous trees." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydnellum_peckii