Pleurotus djamor is a pink colored, tropical species of the “oyster mushroom” group. Our native northeast oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, is white and grows and fruits at cooler temperatures. In thinking of a time lapse to show for a library exhibit the idea came to us, “Why not rot a book”?  The key was hollowing out the inside where we place colonized grain spawn in the internal hollows. This allowed a quick colonization of the cellulose of the book after it was wet from the standing water. The fruit is a bit smaller than we typically see.

This time lapse movie was made over a 23 day period with images made at 30 minute intervals during slow growth periods and 20 minute intervals during growth spurts.