Orange Sponge Polypore

Description:

Pycnoporellus alboluteus forms a spongy orange fruiting body that usually lacks a cap or stem. Occasionally it has a rudimentary cap-like structure along the upper edge; spreading for as much as a meter or more; peeling easily from the wood; flesh and upper surface (when present) soft and spongy, felty or finely hairy. It has thin flesh that is bright orange fading to a paler orange. It has large pores, 1 or more mm across and up to 2 cm long; pores angular. The pore surface erodes to create an irregularly toothed appearance.

Habitat:

Found primarily in western North America in mountain regions, but encountered rarely in northeastern North America. Saprophytic on the dead wood of conifers (especially the wood of spruces but also recorded on the wood of firs, hemlocks, and pines) and rarely on the wood of aspens; causing a brown cubical rot; spreading across the undersides of downed logs; annual; summer and fall (but the spongy fruiting bodies often survive the winter).

Notes:

The pores had eroded so much that they looked like a veil. This fungal colony was two to three feet in length on a log in a north-facing location that would remain more moist/humid.