Red Banded Polypore

Description:

A polypore mushroom of the genus Fomitopsis. An alternative binomial name is Fomes pinicola. Cap hoof-shaped or triangular, hard and tough texture, up to 30-40 x 25 x 10 cm. Surface is more or less smooth, at first orange-yellow with a white margin, later dark reddish to brown and then frequently with orange margin. Pore surface pale yellow to leather-brown, 3-4 pores per mm. The fruiting body of Fomitopsis pinicola is called the conk. It is a woody, pileate fruiting body with pores lined with basidia on its underside. As in other polypores, the fruiting body is perennial with a new layer of pores produced each year on the bottom of the old pores.

Habitat:

The species is common throughout the temperate Northern hemisphere. Grows on live and dead coniferous or (less common) deciduous trees.

Notes:

This mushroom is inedible due to its woody texture, but it is useful as tinder.