Bracket Fungus

Since yesterday's blog had some mushrooms I thought I would continue the theme with today's photograph of fungi growing on a tree in Brugge, Belgium. This fungus is probably Laetiporus sulphureus which is a species of bracket fungus (fungus which grows on trees) found in Europe and North America. Its common names are sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken mushroom. Its fruiting bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Like other bracket fungi, they may last many years and fade to a more pale grey or brown. The undersurface of the fruiting body is made up of tubelike pores rather than gills. Laetiporus sulphureus is a saprophyte, and causes brown cubical rot in the heartwood of trees on which it grows. Unlike many bracket fungi, it is edible when young.

Life After Death

These mushrooms had sprouted up on an old dead palm oil husk. Fungi are important decomposers of dead animal and plant matter and break down the organic material into simpler compounds that can be absorbed into the soil and  used by other plants. During this process they return carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which green plants then use during photosynthesis to produce food and these green plants then produce oxygen.

Mushroom and Moss

The gardens and grounds of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto are impressive to say the least and I captured many photographs but this is a photograph taken in the grounds at a slightly different scale. Sometimes it's worth stopping and getting really close to the ground where you can capture a scene at an entirely different scale ..... a world within a world.