Bracket fungi are amazing mushrooms that grow on the sides of trees and look like hard, flat shelves sticking out from the trunk! Some people call them “shelf mushrooms” because they really do look like little shelves where a tiny fairy could sit down and rest. Unlike soft mushrooms you see at the store, bracket fungi are usually very hard and tough, almost like wood. They come in all sorts of colors, including brown, gray, white, orange, and even beautiful stripes of many colors at once. Some bracket fungi can grow to be bigger than a dinner plate!
Bracket fungi are nature’s recyclers because they help break down old, dead wood and turn it back into rich soil that helps new plants grow. Without them, the forest floor would be covered in piles of old logs that never went away! Some bracket fungi are very tough and can live on the same tree for many, many years, growing a new ring each year just like the tree itself. Long ago, people actually used a type of bracket fungus to start campfires because it could hold a spark and smolder for a long time. The oldest bracket fungus ever found was over 40 years old, which is pretty amazing for a mushroom!
