February 26 Birch Polypore

The slow creep of late winter has me looking upward away from the snow's glare and seeing more fungi in trees. Piptoporus betulinus is another shelf or bracket fungus and the three fruiting bodies mean that there is decomposition happening inside this white birch tree. Birch polypore is saprobic, meaning it enters a dead or dying tree through wounds and begins eating the wood from the inside out. The other branches of this birch still have leaf buds and appear quite healthy. However with this main branch undergoing serious rot, the tree is under serious stress and will have a difficult time staying healthy. That's OK: plenty of other fungi lay in wait to finish the rest of the decomposing and send this tree back to the soil.