A group of parasite mushrooms grows on the trunk of a tree

Bad fungus

A young spring branch of birch tree
Birch blossom

It's not like the mushrooms are in useful symbiosis with the tree.

A young horse-tail looks like a cone with scales

Something looking like fungus

It isn't a toadstool or cone. It is a young horse-tail - one of the most ancient plants. That time the Nature hadn't invent leaves yet.