What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Cubist Curiosity

This rust-colored log reminds us of Picasso’s 1910 work, “Girl with a Mandolin.” Assuming that the artist hasn’t reincarnated and begun traipsing around the woods of the Northeast, what created this cubist effect?

Answer

As explained in this Outside Story essay, these cubes are the result of brown rot fungi, which, as author Rachel Sargent Mirus explains, “consume the cellulose and hemicellulose, snipping those molecules down to their component sugars, which the fungi then absorb. Brown lignin is left behind, and the decayed wood tends to crack into cubes, which eventually crumble into fine particles that are an important water-retaining component of forest soils.”