More species in the yard

[urbpan]

Here's a species that somehow didn't appear for either of the 100 species projects for my yard. It was there for most of that time, but it was invisible to me. Early on in our time at Contentment Cottage I went on Norway maple murder spree. I cut down more than a dozen of the little maples--invasive species that form monocultures when they escape, and produce thousands of winged seeds to ensure that they do--and turned them into firewood. Spores of a fungus called Trametes versicolor are always in the air, and some landed on this stump. They divided and invaded the still-living wood, for this fungus is a weak parasite that takes advantage of situations like the one I created with my little hand saw.

The fungus took the form of threads growing along the grain of the wood of the stump. As it grew it released enzymes into the wood, breaking down the lignin into smaller hydrocarbons that it reabsorbed as food for growth. Only after it had done this for more than year did it reveal itself by producing the beautiful polypore mushrooms called "turkey tails."

Turkey tails are much appreciated by foragers interested in wild-collected medicine. One such person on the Foragers Unite! facebook group sings the praises of the mushrooms as "powerful healers, [which] have clinically been shown to destroy cancer cells, fight infection, and drastically reduce inflammation in the body..." Usually they speak of brewing tea with the mushrooms, but another forager advocates plucking and chewing the fresh uncooked mushrooms. They have a leathery texture, and (apparently) no toxicity even at very high dosages. Should I try it?