WELCOME 🍄 FUNGI LOVERS

This article for @ewkaw‘s Fungi Friday is about looking closer at one not so necessarily super pretty, but nevertheless useful mushroom, the Tinder Bracket (Fomes fomentarius), also known as Hoof Fungus.

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Looks familiar? You have surely seen one of those big or small somewhere on a dead tree, preferably a birch, right?

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They look a bit like stones and they are as hard as stones compared to most other much more fragile mushrooms we‘re used to see.

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Now let‘s take a closer look underneath this big one with the sun rising strong in the background.

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Someone already touched the pores of it as we can see here. Maybe an animal or a human who was curious if it‘s smooth, who knows.

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Here we look at little closer at the smaller blob of this big fella.

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The Three Towers

And this photo shows the whole habitat of the mushroom. Can you spot it? It‘s on the left tower, the mushroom tower. To the right we see the mossy tower and in the background there‘s a water tower.

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A little research about the Tinder Bracket mushroom:

The Tinder Bracket Mushroom (Fomes fomentarius), commonly known as Hoof Fungus, is a substantial bracket fungus found on trees across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. It resembles a horse’s hoof and exhibits a range of colors, from silvery grey to black, with a typical brown hue.

Key characteristics of the Tinder Bracket Mushroom include its growth on dead or weakened trees, particularly birch, which causes rot. After the tree’s demise, it transitions from a parasite to a decomposer. It possesses concentric ridges and a dense pore layer beneath for spore release. The size of its fruiting bodies can vary from 5 to 45 centimeters in width.

Historically, the Tinder Bracket Mushroom has been utilized for fire-starting, and even the renowned Ötzi the Iceman carried it. It contains antiviral, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory compounds that are utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating oral ulcers, cancer, and inflammation. Researchers are currently studying its lightweight structural properties.

Ecologically, the Tinder Bracket Mushroom plays a crucial role in decomposing wood by breaking down cellulose and lignin after the host tree’s death. It also supports a diverse range of beetle and moth species that inhabit its fruiting bodies.

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Do you see these mushroom different now knowing a little about them?

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Here‘s one i found somewhere else and it cought my eye because it is ripped open so we can have a look inside it.

Let‘s take a much closer look at the inner wooden structure of this mushroom and from a slightly different angle to see the pores underneath. Fascinating, right?!

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Last but not least i have two Tinder Brackets that are not there anymore, because someone or some animal ripped them out of the tree almost completely. Maybe to use them for making a fire, who knows.

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FUNGI FACTS:
Fungi have been discovered to possess the remarkable ability to break down plastics, potentially offering a solution to the pressing issue of plastic pollution. For instance, specific species of fungi can degrade plastics within a matter of weeks, significantly reducing the time required for plastic degradation compared to the conventional years.

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If you haven't seen the recent masterpiece about fungi
then go and check it out now:

Fantastic Fungi

by Louie Schwartzberg

🍄 Fungi rule the world! 🍄

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