February's fungus is Gloeophyllum sepiarium, the Conifer Mazegill. This species has concentric rings of colour on top, like many polypores, but quite unusually for a polypore, it has gills, not pores, beneath. It is orange when young, but over time darkens to brown from the centre out, leaving only the rim orange. Eventually the rim darkens too.
observation by dianalynn1

It can be found in forests, but it is infamous for decaying chemically treated railroad ties and lumber in lumber yards and sometimes called Lumberyard Mushroom. Here on the island, there's a fair bit of it growing on the garden boundaries at the pool on Rainbow Road. It has enzymes that are very efficient at breaking down difficult chemicals.

observation by caladri

Those same enzymes are of interest to scientists, who have been testing it for the bioremediation of chromium pollution. Chromium is an element that can exist in many different states, each of which has a different colour, which is how it got its name; "chromium" is Greek for "colour".

Gloeophyllum sepiarium can turn the toxic kidney-damaging chromium-VI (purple) into chromium-III (green), which is much safer, as it can't enter animal cells easily. Chromium-III is even used to make green oil paint. This fungus is being considered for use in cleaning up pollution in areas polluted by chromium-VI from tanning or dyeing processes; tests have found that over the course of a year, it converts 94% of the chromium-IV to chromium-III.

Appropriately for a mushroom that turns poison into paint, this species can also be used as a dye! It makes a warm orangey-brown colour. You can see photos of the results here.

observation by caladri

I hope you had a colourful month!