Turkeytail

A fungus called turkeytail (Trametes versicolor) photographed in the reserve by Clive Knight and identified for us by Tree Officer Rich Murphy.

The turkeytail is a common bracket fungus that grows all the year round. These small colourful, velvety caps, marked with concentric rings of browns and oranges, are the fruiting bodies of the fungus; the main part of the fungus, the mycelium, is living inside this piece of dead hardwood, breaking down and feeding on the lignin and cellulose. The spores, the fungal equivalent of seeds, will be released from tiny holes in the hymenium, the underside, of the fruiting body in the late autumn.

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