the spring disc fungus of NZ's forest edges
- Size
- Cup: 3–8 cm
- Lifespan
- 1 years
- Diet
- Saprotrophic: feeds on damp, rotting wood of native trees, particularly beech. Grows on fallen branches and logs in shaded, damp forests.
- Habitat
- On damp, rotting wood, especially beech, in shaded, damp forests. Often found on fallen branches and logs in native bush.
- Range
- Throughout New Zealand on damp, rotting wood in native forests. Most common in South Island beech forests and other native woodland areas.
- Endemism
- Native
- Main Threats
- Habitat loss from land clearance and forest fragmentation. Climate change affecting forest humidity and drying out rotting wood sources.
- Population
- Populations are considered stable but localised. Common in damp, undisturbed forests. Threatened by forest drying and loss of dead wood.
- Conservation Status
- Not Threatened
Something pink catches the light on a damp, rotting log. It is small. It is bright. It is a fungus. This is the Pink Disco, a cup fungus that looks less like flora and more like a tiny, fleshy ear attached to the wood. The cups are saucer-shaped, ranging from vivid pink to reddish-brown. The inside surface is smooth, the place where spores are produced. The outside is wrinkled, textured like skin. It is soft and insubstantial. A fungus that looks like a body part.
It appears in spring and early summer. The forest is damp then. Light filters through the canopy in shifting patches. The pink colour does not last. It fades with age, turning to a dull brown that blends seamlessly with the bark. Catch it young, or miss it entirely. The window is short. Time is not on its side.
Not edible. Too small. Too insubstantial. But pretty, in a strange, fungal way. Pretty is not always useful. Sometimes it is just pretty. Utility is not the only metric for existence. The Pink Disco exists to be seen, if only by those who look closely.
It eats dead wood. That is its job. The mycelium threads through the rotting log, breaking down lignin and cellulose. It turns timber into soil. A small role, but someone has to do it. Without the Pink Disco, the log would take longer to rot. That is its contribution. It works in the dark, unseen, doing the necessary work of decay.
The Maori name is not recorded. Another small fungus, overlooked by the people who came before. It was noticed only by those who walk the forest floor with their eyes down. That is the fate of the small ones. They go unnoticed. History does not record every colour.
Common in native forests throughout New Zealand. Not rare. Not threatened. Just there, on the damp logs, in the spring rain. It does not need protection. It just needs logs. And rain. And time.
Photographers like it. The pink stands out against the brown bark. The cup shape catches shadows in interesting ways. It rewards a macro lens and a steady hand. And patience. Lots of patience. The hunt is part of the appeal.
That is the Pink Disco. Small. Pink. Briefly bright. Then brown, then gone. The forest does not notice. But someone walking slowly, looking closely, might. It carries on.