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Phellinus sp.
Probably the driest 'tinder fungus' I have ever seen. Approx. 100mm across. This one is seriously cracked and resembles the grey timber it was attached to. From above it looked more like a broken branch stump. On the sunniest side (NW) of a maleluca or paper bark tree. It was so well attached that I couldn't remove it. In spite of its apparent condition the underneath was moist, smooth and seemed to have none or only microscopic spores.
Suburban nature strip. Malleluca sp.
"Many species of polypore genus Phellinus are hard, woody bracket fungi, mostly coloured dark bronze to black and often with the upper surface heavily cracked. Aborigines have used Phellinus fruiting bodies medicinally. The smoke from burning fruit bodies was inhaled by those with sore throats. Scrapings from slightly charred fruiting bodies were drunk with water to treat coughing, sore throats, "bad chests", fevers and diarrhoea. Unfortunately there is some uncertainty about which species of Phellinus were used. " ( http://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/aboriginal.... )
Spotted on May 12, 2012
Submitted on May 23, 2012
2 Comments
Thanks Neil. Google image searches are a modern marvel... except when your own face keeps coming up while searching for fungi. LOL!!
It's amazing what one can find doing image searches. This looks very similar to my spotting. I'm surprised to see something like this growing on a Melaleuca. I would have thought the bark was too soft and flakey. Great spotting, Mark.