Hello Folks! Fungi come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours. Whilst some are edible, others are poisonous and best avoided. They can be found almost everywhere and are often easily overlooked. Many can be seen in woodland and meadow, especially at this time of year.Each Monday for 12 weeks I will be posting a little teaser for you. Without looking in books or on the internet (i.e - no cheating), see if you can identify the UK fungus. On Wednesday, so as long as no-one has guessed it, I will post one clue. On Friday I will post the answer along with some additional information for your interest.MYSTERY FUNGI QUIZ #5Clue: You’ll gobble up this story.
Wendy S said:Shhh,just don't get caught !!
Whoooops - sorry!!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Festive greetings one and all!!Congratulations to all of you who guessed Turkey tail fungus (Trametes versicolor). This fungus is also known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor. First a bit about the clues: You’ll gobble up this story. Gobble refers to the noise that turkeys make, and ‘story’ as another word for tale or in this case, tail! This fungus gets it name from its resemblance to a turkey’s tail. The second clue: yun zhi refers to the name of this fungus when used in Chinese medicine.
Belonging to the Polyporaceae family, the top of the cap is made up of different segments of colour ranging from rusty brown to black. Versicolor means several colours. The pore surface is whitish to light brown in colour and has 2 to 5 pores per millimetre. Platypezid fly maggots are rather partial to this fungus.
A picture of a Turkey tail fungus can be seen here.
Did you know that: In Japan and China, the polysaccharide-K compound that is extracted from this fungus is used in the treatment of cancer.
Keep an eye out for next weeks fun(gi) quiz!
Take care,
Claire
Looks a real beauty MrsT,one I had only heard of never knowingly seen one,with those colours I would have remembered.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Most impressive!!
Well done Wendy