Barking up the Wrong Mushroom

I'm neither mycologist nor arborist. Indeed, when it comes to identifying fungi, my utter inability exceeds my ignorance of tree species. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the impressive esthetics of each. Take these mushrooms, growing on a birch up north....


As for trees, there are those who can name a tree based on a brief glance at its bark. Not me. Well, I think I've got the birch down. At least, as a genus. But don't ask me to taxonomize the species....


Beyond the most rudimentary taxonomic identifications, however, I might as well be watching the old Monty Python routine involving the larch (And now, number two, the larch -- the...larch). This might be a larch, for all I know....


...but I just like the look of its bark.