The deep blue fungus (Pulcherricium caeruleum [= Corticium caeruleum]) belongs to the family Corticiacea of fungi growing in fallen, in decay wood, most of them as a stuck crust or with lifted margins.
Species of Corticiacea are often difficult to sort out. However, Pulcherricium caeruleum outstands by its deep blue color with paler border. Its specific adjective caeruleum means blue in Latin.
It grows on fallen branches from planifolia trees and bushes, mostly on its dark, wet side towards the soil. It starts as several small disks that will soon merge to a continuous crust with growing. When turning a fallen piece of wood from the wet forestry soil, a beautiful deep blue fungus, like a painting, can be awarded.
[photos Jordi Badia (1st) and Marta Queralt López Salvans (2nd)]