Expanding the spalting palette: Developing yellow,purple,and green pigments from Scytalidium ganodermophthorum

Abstract

The use of wood coloured by fungi, or ‘spalted’ wood, stretches back to the Renaissance. Most of this work was restricted to shades of blue-green, brown, white, and black zone lines. Modern spalting has added in shades of red and blue. The current colour palette of spalting fungi has the potential to be expanded through the use of Scytalidium ganodermophthorum, a fungal pathogen and suspected soft rot of wood, which produces multiple colours of pigment throughout its growth, including yellow and purple. However, no previous study has tracked colours of the extracted fungal pigment across time. This study showed significant colour change of extracted fungal pigments across 36 weeks of growth, transitioning over time from bright yellow to green shades, before finally becoming slate purple. This diversity of hues increases the colours available to artists working with spalting pigments, and has the potential to expand the art form.