Tree fungi

Tree fungi grow on living or dead trees and are masters at breaking down wood.  They convert hard wood into nutrients that return to the soil and become food for new plants. Different species follow one another, but the horsehoof fungus appears quickly when a tree is dying. It is dark brown/black with a white edge and becomes rock hard. In the past, it was used to start fires because it is highly flammable. It gets its common English name from its shape – it looks like a horse’s hoof. If you look closely at the horsehoof fungus, you will see tiny beetles living in the spores on the underside of the fungus. It takes different amounts of time for the fungi to break down a tree. When an oak log falls to the ground, it can take several hundred years, while a birch log is gone in a few years.