velvet-top fungus, dyer's polypore,Norway Chicken, or dyer's mazegill

Description:

This mushroom is a classic "butt rot" fungus, attacking trees through their roots and producing decay in the root system and the heartwood of the lower portion of the tree (up to about 10 or 20 feet above ground). The result is a weakened, or even hollow, tree base--which makes the tree more susceptible to windthrow, especially if other agents (beetles, for example) have combined destructive forces with the fungus. Phaeolus schweinitzii is partial to conifers, and is usually found near the base of the tree's trunk, appearing terrestrial. It has a velvety, brown to olive cap and, when young, a strikingly yellow or orange, brown-bruising pore surface and margin. The pores are angular and fairly large, and the fairly thin, flexible flesh is brown to reddish brown. With age the mushroom's colors are more boring and brown, but the pore surface usually retains a greenish hue. Microscopic features (see below) are distinctive. Old specimens of Phaeolus schweinitzii can cause confusion, since they are often no longer velvety and lack any hints of the interesting yellow and orange shades they displayed in their youth. Even the pore surface turns entirely brown, and no longer bruises. ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/phaeolus_s... )

Habitat:

location: North America, Europe edibility: Inedible fungus colour: Green, Grey to beige normal size: over 15cm cap type: Other stem type: Lateral, rudimentary or absent flesh: Pore material cannot be seperated from flesh of the cap spore colour: White, cream or yellowish habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on wood Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. syn. Polyporus schweinitzii Fr. Fruit body sometimes forming amorphous cushions, more often subcircular, 10–30cm across with a short thick stalk, soft and spongy when fresh drying fragile and light; upper surface concave, rough, hairy, concentrically grooved at first, dark sulphur-yellow becoming rusty or dark brown and finally blackish with age. Stem brown, very short and thick, merging into the cap and covered in tubes. Flesh rusty brown, fibrous. Tubes 3–6mm long, decurrent, concolorous with the upper surface. Pores 0.3–2.5mm across, circular, angular or irregular, yellow, olivaceous or tinged rust, finally maroon brown, often glistening in the light. Spores whitish tinged yellowish, ovate to elliptic, 5.5–7.5 x 3.5–4um. Hyphal structure monomitic; generative hyphae lacking clamps. Habitat parasitic on conifers, usually arising from the roots. Season autumn. Occasional. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Scientific name: Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. Derivation of name: Phaeolus means "dark" or "obscure"; schweinitzii means it was named for L.D. von Schweinitz, American mycologist (1780-1834). Synonymy: Polyporus schweinitzii Fr. Common names: Dye polypore. Phylum: Basidiomycota Order: Polyporales Family: Polyporaceae Occurrence on wood substrate: Parasitic and saprobic; solitary or in overlapping clusters or rosettes on buried roots and at the base of living conifers, sometimes on dead stumps; rarely reported on deciduous trees; June through November. Dimensions: Individual caps 4-25 cm wide; clusters up to 60 cm (or more); stalks (when present) 1-6 cm long and 1-4 cm thick, branched or unbranched, central or eccentric, sometimes rooting. Upper surface: Densely matted or wooly, less so with age; ochre to orange or reddish-brown with yellow margin when young, rusty-brown to dark brown in age; somewhat zonate. Pore surface: Greenish-yellow to yellow or orange when young, bruising brownish, yellowish-brown to dark reddish or rusty-brown in age; pores 0.5-3 per mm. Edibility: Inedible. Comments: The Dye polypore is used to prepare dyes for fabrics (Figure 11). This polypore encompasses twigs, needles, and grass as it develops. Check with Bessette or Roody to compare with similar Inonotus tomentosus which is smaller and thinner, does not have the greenish-yellow pore surface, and does not grow in overlapping rosettes. Phaeolus schweinitzii is a significant parasite, often killing the host tree as a result of the root and butt rot it causes ( http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wo... )