First Monday Mushroom: Smoked Oysterling

OK, first I need to apologize (yet again): In February the first of the month fell on a Friday, which meant there should have been a Mushroom of the Month AND a Fungal Word Friday. I decided to just do the Fungal Word Friday and postpone the Mushroom of the month, so that they wouldn't clash... then I forgot the mushroom :-(
And then fast forward a month and the first of March was ALSO on a Friday. This gave me an idea to prevent this clash from happening again. Introducing Mushroom of the Month 2.0 aka First Monday Mushroom!
The principle is the same, it is just that now you will get the mushroom and identification on the first Monday of the month as opposed to the first day. See, easy.
So without further adieu:

March's First Monday Mushroom

Let's run this through our handy Audobon's Field Guide Key to identification and see what it is (Yes, I know the name is in the post title.):

1. Mushrooms tough to leathery or woody--2
1. Mushrooms fleshy to firm-- 10
2. Mushrooms tough--3
2. Mushrooms leathery to woody -- 7
3. Gill edges saw-toothed or uneven--4
3. Gill edges smooth--5
4. Stalkless or funnel shaped--Lentinellus p. 765
4. Stalk off-center or central--Lentinus pp. 766-767
5. Veil present over gills--Tectella patellarls pp. 798-
799
5. Veil absent--6
6. Mushroom often densely, coarsely hairy--Panus p.
791
6. Mushroom somewhat hairy; gills often brownish;
taste sharply acrid--Panellus stipticus p. 790
7. Mushroom fanlike; "gills" irregular, fleshy--8
7. Mushroom shelflike; "gills" regular, leathery--9
8. Cap white-hairy; "gills" split lengthwise--
Schizophyllum commune pp. 493-494
8. Cap tan to brownish; "gills" crisped-curly and
veined--Plicaturopsis crispa p. 493
9. Multizoned cap; white "gills"; usually on deciduous
wood--Lenzites betulinus pp. 469-470
9. Yellow-red to brown cap; brownish "gills", usually
on conifer wood--Gloeophyllum sepiarium p. 463
10. Very small (less than one inch across)--11
10. Medium to large--14
11. Mushroom white--12
11. Mushroom blackish-- Resupinatus applicatus

Wow that one was quick and easy.
Resupinatus applicatus, has a small convex or sometimes cuplike fruiting body that is blue-gray to a dark almost black gray. The mushroom is firm and fleshy, with no stem; and covered with small fine hairs.
This fungus grows on decaying wood in North America, Europe and Australia. And as The title says: its common name is the Smoked Oysterling.
Thanks for joining me for another month of mushrooms and fungi, see you soon.


Photo cred: By Boleslaw Kuznik (Mushroom Observer) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons