Trametes hirsuta

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods (very rarely reported on conifer wood); annual; causing a white rot; growing in clusters on logs and stumps; summer and fall; Cap: Up to 10 cm across and 6 cm deep; semicircular, irregularly bracket-shaped, or kidney-shaped; often fusing laterally with other caps; very densely hairy; often finely, radially furrowed; with concentric zones of texture; zones with gray, whitish, and brownish shades, but usually not contrasting markedly; margin often brownish to brown or blackish. Pore Surface: Whitish, becoming a little brownish, grayish, or yellowish with age; with 3-4 circular to angular pores per mm; tubes with fairly thick walls, to 6 mm deep. Flesh: Insubstantial; whitish; tough and corky. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Chemical Reactions: KOH on flesh negative to dull yellow. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 2-2.5 µ; smooth; cylindric; inamyloid. Cystidia absent. Hyphal system trimitic.

Habitat:

widely distributed across North America.

Notes:

Yet another turkey tail look-alike, Trametes hirsuta features a whitish and grayish, hirsute cap surface. Its margin is often brownish, which helps to separate it from Trametes pubescens, which can sometimes look similar (and which is also usually a little less hairy)--and its pore surface features 3-4 circular to slightly angular pores per mm, which separates it from Trametes villosa, which has larger pores that become strikingly angular and nearly tooth-like.