Crust fungus on branch, starts off creamy white, but ages brown. Mixed forest of hemlock, white pine, mature oak, cherry, hickory & maple.
Found in rotting tree stump, orange to yellow in center and white/fuzzy near margins. Irregular shape, filling gaps in wood. Rough, bumpy surface.
Somewhere along the Cape Cod Rail Trail
In oak leaf litter under daylilies. Should be compared to https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176854988, which was found in exactly the same spot. The fruiting bodies look very similar from above, as do the "horsehair" stipes. On the reproductive side, however, the caps in this observation do all have a complete collar around the stipe. I wonder now if the organism in observation 176854988 is a forme fruste of M. capillaris.
Spore print white. In Merzl's spores are smooth, clear . . . length range 7.7 to 11 microns mean 8.4 sd 1.1 width range 2.6 to 4.4 mean 3.7 sd 0.6 Q = 2.27, thus "cylindrical or narrowly cylindrical. Shape resembles a cucumber seed, with one end more pointed.
Kuo says of M capillaris spores "Microscopic Features: Spores 7-11 x 3-5 µ; smooth; pip-shaped." That fits these spores nicely. It does not match well with those belonging to
observation 176854988.