Rachel Stepek · Forest Rainbow

The Appalachian spectrum

Brown, Gray & Black

ochre brown · earth · stone · cool gray · charcoal · black

Warm brown gives way to earth and stone, then cool gray, charcoal, and black. The final photograph returns every color to the Appalachian landscape.

Charcoal

Old-Man-of-the-Woods

Strobilomyces strobilaceus

A near-black mushroom rises upright from luminous moss, its cap broken into ragged charcoal scales edged with silver gray. The same shaggy pattern continues down the thick ash-gray stalk, set against fern green, russet leaves, and a damp decaying log.

August

Field fact and source

The dark mushroom begins a vivid color change when cut or bruised: its white flesh reddens on contact with air, then deepens through gray-violet toward black. The ivory pore surface likewise bruises red before quickly blackening. Boletales.com →

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Ochre brown

Cross-Veined Troop Mushroom

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

Dozens of ochre-brown caps climb a blackened stump on long, slender stems. The crowded shelves range from honey gold to cinnamon, exposing cream crossed gills and cream rims against charred wood, damp leaf litter, and a softly green forest.

August

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Brown · blue-gray · cream

Turkey-Tail

Trametes versicolor

Thin fans line a fallen branch, their brown and blue-gray bands edged in cream. The repeated curves become a striped rhythm across the dark wood. A turned-over piece shows the white underside, while a later view follows another row among leaves and vines. The earlier August encounter remains in the gallery.

August & September

View the iNaturalist observations: September 23 · September 27 · August

Tawny brown

Pink-Striped Oakworm Moth

Anisota virginiensis

Chocolate-brown wings spread across a hand, crossed by muted rose bands and marked with one clean white spot on each side. The plump abdomen glows pumpkin orange beneath the dusky wings, with fingertips and a blurred woodland edge setting its scale.

May

Field fact and source

The name belongs to a different life stage: the caterpillar wears pink stripes, while the adult appears in ochre, brown, and rose. Like every moth and butterfly, the adult carries its color on overlapping wing scales—one animal moving through two very different palettes. UMass Extension → Smithsonian wing-color overview →

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Brown and tan

Velvet-Footed Tap

Tapinella atrotomentosa

A broad amber-brown cap rises above a thick, softly textured buff stalk, with smaller caps repeating the shape nearby. One low view reveals the dark underside, while wet oak leaves, pine needles, gray branches, moss, and deep woodland green surround the substantial mushroom.

August · Research Grade

Field fact and source

The dark “velvet foot” is a genuine identification feature: the thick stalk is covered in brown velvety fuzz, while the ivory gills run down toward it. The fungus commonly grows from decaying conifer wood. Binghamton University mycological herbarium →

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Earth brown

Common Earthball

Scleroderma citrinum

Two tawny spheres sit together in clear moving water, their leathery surfaces stippled with fine dark warts. Ripples bend reflected sky and branches around them, carrying highlights over submerged brown leaves, stones, and a diagonal creekside twig.

August

Field fact and source

Earthballs form spores inside a thick, enclosed rind. As they mature, the cream interior darkens to purple-brown and the rind breaks open to release the powdery spores. NC State Extension →

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Soft taupe-gray

Collared Earthstar

Geastrum triplex

Soft fawn-colored rays open across the leaf litter around a round, velvety taupe spore sac. The papery arms fold and crease like worn cloth, with dry oak leaves, gray sticks, and several smaller earthstars repeating the tender star shape nearby.

August

Field fact and source

The central spore sac is thin and flexible. When a raindrop strikes it, the impact forces a puff of dark, nearly black powdery spores through the small opening at the top. Macquarie University → E-Flora BC →

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Cool gray

Great Blue Heron

Ardea herodias

Balanced on a fallen trunk at the waterline, the heron folds slate-blue wings beneath a silver-gray back and lifts its rust-streaked neck toward the wooded bank. Exposed roots, mossy rock, tawny leaves, and reflected water make the bird part of the shoreline rather than a figure set apart from it.

April · Research Grade

Field fact and source

Specially shaped neck vertebrae let a Great Blue Heron turn its long, folded neck into a rapid, long-distance strike at prey. Conservation: Kentucky breeding population: Vulnerable. Cornell Lab → NatureServe →

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Black

Eastern Black Trumpet

Craterellus fallax

Inky black funnels curl through brilliant moss, their thin, wavy rims folding like dark fabric. Charcoal interiors, ash-gray outer surfaces, wet wood, pine needles, and tiny green leaves make the clustered mushrooms visible without softening their shadowy color.

August

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Black

Eastern Black Bear

Ursus americanus americanus

The bear appears as a deep black form at the far edge of a quiet cove, standing and then moving along the narrow shoreline. Charcoal fur is framed by silver-gray bare trunks, evergreen rhododendron, gray riprap, and blue-green water carrying long vertical reflections from the mountain slope.

March · Research Grade

Field fact and source

South Carolina has a resident black bear population in the mountains and upper Piedmont. Black bears are also strong swimmers and use home ranges that supply food, water, cover, and den sites. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources →

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Silver · charcoal · stone brown

Striped Fishing Spider

Dolomedes scriptus

Long banded legs flatten across a submerged stone, repeating the charcoal, silver, and warm brown of the gravel below. In close view, white lines and smoky patches turn the body into a precise little drawing beneath clear water.

August

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Photographs and field notes by Rachel Stepek · Field exploration with Nathan Stepek