A downed tree along one of my regular walks has turkey tail working through the bark on nearly every exposed section, stacked six and eight caps deep in places, each one ringed with its own bands of tans and grays. It is one of the most common shelf fungi in New England forests that fruits late summer to fall, and once you start looking for it, it turns up everywhere.
The concentric bands are the reason for the common name. Each ring marks a different stage of growth, and the outer edge is almost always the lightest color on the cap. The scientific name, Trametes versicolor, is a nod to how much that color range can vary: bluish browns, grays, and greens to rusts, oranges, yellows and white.
Turkey tail is a saprotroph, meaning it feeds on dead wood rather than a living tree. It targets lignin first, the tough compound that gives wood its rigidity. Over time, it is one of the processes that turns a fallen log back into soil, releasing nutrients that standing trees and new seedlings depend on to grow.
I'm just beginning my self-study to identify fungi in the forest, with an ultimate goal to be able to forage for edibles. That uncertainty is part of what's interesting about paying closer attention to something you've walked past for years without really seeing.
None of this stays separate from the studio. I don't paint fungi often, but they're part of why the wood in a lot of my pieces looks the way it does. I suspect that's about to change.
Notes
2. "bluish browns, grays, and greens to rusts, oranges, yellows and white." Broader color bands have a velvety surface. McKnight, K. B., Rohrer, J. R., McKnight Ward, K., & McKnight, K. H. (2021). Peterson field guide to mushrooms of North America (2nd ed.). Mariner Books.
3. "It targets the lignin first...". Why this polypore is referred to as 'white rot fungus' due to the stringy white cellulose framework left behind. McPhaul, M. (2016, April 3). Turkey tail fungus. Northern Woodlands. https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/turkey-tail-fungus