Yes, unfortunately today they're mats, not towering fruiting bodies, which I'm sure would have been spectacular to look at.
Yeah, that would be something to see. Imagine the sporing though . . . if it did spore. Like this but way bigger. Contemporary conifers are bad enough, especially in a heavily forested area. Man, last year it was everywhere in my part of New England. Sticky, yellow pine spooge. Everywhere. What I found interesting about the Wikipedia entry on prototaxites was that it mentioned that there was evidence of animals making their homes in the trunks. I know animals do this within trees, but my imagination is just running wild with what that would have looked like. I don't know if you're a gamer, or if you've checked out Minecraft, but my favorite biome is the mushroom biome: Those cow things are called mooshrooms. Anyway, I'm really glad that people study ancient organisms. It really puts into perspective how unlikely our contemporary world is.