Poor Man’s Licorice (Bulgaria inquinans)
On a recent walk along the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Beech Forest Trail, I noticed some rather unique knobby fungus protruding from a fallen oak. iNaturalist helped me quickly identify it as poor man’s licorice (Bulgaria inquinans), also known as black bulgar or black jelly drops, as they somewhat resemble licorice or black gumdrops. Despite its resemblance to these edible sweets, poor man’s licorice is not considered to be edible. It is also not closely related at all to the…