Accidental gardening... What is this plant/cactus ?

Hello permies,

I was taking care of the plants today, and noticed something strange in one of my indoor ashwagandha pot. It looked like mushrooms at first (I already had some growing), but by looking at it closer and touching it, it seems like some sort of cactus... can anyone identify it ?




If this happen to be a "useful" cactus, it will be the fourth plant I accidentally grow this season ! I'm getting so good I literally success accidentally. The soil might have been from some potting mix designed for cactus, so it might be some left over "weeds"... that's the first time I have cactus growing like weeds, and it's honestly funny.

Those look fungal to me but very cool all the same. All the cactus seedlings I've ever seen are green and have paired fleshy cotyledons (seed leaves). The spiky part of the cactus comes a little bit later, just like the true leaves on most common plants.

I think those are a variety of puffball mushrooms.

I know nothing about them other than that some look like this:


Fungi/ Lycoperdon perlatum

Since they do not look white they might be a dangerous imposter.

If I don't know what it is, I won't try to eat it. And it seems it's indeed some kind of mushroom:



I tried to identify them with one of my book, but no success.

[edited] Bird's nest fungi! These things are seriously cool.

I just found some of these this afternoon as I was working over a couple of beds with lots of wood chips and pine shavings on them. They look exactly like yours and were growing in a cluster next to some potatoes.

Mushrooms and fungi in general are really popping right now at our place, as it's autumn and we've had the perfect combo of rain, cool nights, and warm ground to get them going. And I have been putting lots of wood chips, shavings, bark and rotting logs everywhere.

Those are lovely additions.

The tiny fungi aren’t dangerous to plants and help break down organic matter. Therefore, bird’s nest fungus control isn’t necessary unless the appearance wrecks your gardening feng shui.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/birds-nest-fungus.htm

Coprinaceae (Psathrellaceae)

Its a toxic mushroom feeding on the mulch

Even though its toxic, its a good decomposer

William, they are not coprinaceae but rather nidulariaceae (birds nest fungus), and no study has found them to be toxic, however they are considered inedible, mostly due to their small size.
As a side note, many fungi in family coprinaceae are highly edible and delicious.

You're right! I'm used to seeing birds nest fungus in this stage (always err to the side of caution)

In closed from they look like a close relative to the Spiny Puffball Mushroom (Lycoperdon echinatum) but when opened the Birds Nest Fungi is another good guess.
The Photos doesn't show the size but if they are not much bigger than a Red Currant the latter should be the one...

They are indeed quite small, just a bit bigger than red or black currants.