Hemlock Varnish Shelf

Description:

Large, fan-shaped shelf fungus with a shiny, varnished surface that looks like it has different, lumpy zones. White pores and flesh. Mushrooms ranged in size from 3-10 inches wide.

Habitat:

I saw tons of it growing on dead, fallen trees and snags. In one of the pictures, you can see one of the mushrooms was covered in some kind of brown dust that looks like mushroom spores. They were growing in a wet, mixed forest along the Hudson River.

Notes:

This is a type of reishi mushroom, which are considered to have medicinal properties. They have a long history of use in Chinese medicine. Reishi mushrooms can also be used to make tea and dye wool and other fabrics.