Fungi as Art

Chicken of the woods, Oak bracket, King Alfred’s cakes, Artist’s, and Candle-snuff–all are types of fungi found on trees and/or stumps when wood is in the decay process.  It has been about three years since this spruce tree fell and was cut down.  I haven’t identified the specific fungi growing on the stump–I just think they are interesting!

When I looked at the stump yesterday, it reminded me of an artist’s palette.  Instead of different colors of paint, this palette holds different shapes and kinds of fungi.  Each one is like a little work of art with its own color and form.

They are each doing what Nature intended for them–working as part of a process to break down the old decaying wood to make new soil for nourishing the plants yet to come.  The past, the present, and the future.

*Nature is the most thrifty thing in the world; she never wastes anything; she undergoes change, but there’s no annihilation–the essence remains.* –Thomas Binney