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Ganoderma applanatum
Ganoderma applanatum is a bracket fungus with a cosmopolitan distribution. The spore bodies are up to 30–40 centimetres across, hard, woody-textured, and inedible; they are white at first but soon turn dark red-brown. A peculiarity of this fungus lies in its ability to be as a drawing medium for artists. When the surface is rubbed or scratched with a sharp implement, it changes from light to dark brown, producing visible lines and shading.
Widespread and fairly common in Britain and Ireland, Ganoderma applanatum is found throughout most of mainland Europe and is most common in central and northern Europe. It is a wood-decay fungus, using primarily dead heartwood, but also as a pathogen on live sapwood, particularly on older trees. It is a common cause of decay and death of beech and poplar, and less often of several other tree genera, including alder, apple, elm, buckeye and horse chestnut, maple, oak, walnut, willow, western hemlock, Douglas fir, and spruce.
Spotted on the trunk of a dead European beech in rural area of Deventer, Holland.
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