Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Coriolus versicolor

Confined to a classroom all day so an early morning dog run up Cliff Rigg was all I could manage. Too early for decent lighting but a display of colour on a fallen tree at the bottom of Thief Lane caught my eye. This is Coriolus versicolor, a very common fungus from a large family and is just one of the many organisms essential to the breakdown of deadwood for a thriving woodland. The name betrays its varied colours. It is used as a tonic in traditional Asian medicine while in modern medicine, a drug made from the fungus has been found to be beneficial in the treatment of certain cancers when used in conjunction with chemotherapy. As for nutritional value, it’s pretty inedible in spite of its North American common name Turkey Tail.




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