Oak Mazegill

Description:

Flat, fan-shaped fruiting bodies with amazingly intricate maze-like pores that were very deep, thick, and fuzzy. Sizes ranged from 6-10 cm wide.

The fruiting bodies of Daedalea quercina have some unusual uses. They can be used as a natural comb, especially for brushing horses with sensitive skin. In addition, the smoldering fruiting bodies may be used to anesthetize bees. This species has also been investigated for bioremediation, and for medicinal purposes.

Habitat:

Growing on rotting wood in a mixed forest.

Notes:

The genus name, Daedalea, comes from Greek mythology in which it referred to finely crafted objects. However, later writers transformed the meaning into more of an edifice with countless winding passages that seem to have neither beginning nor end. Ovid took the meaning even further in telling the story in his Metamorphoses, where he suggested that Daedalus constructed a labyrinth so artful that he could barely escape it after building it. In the story, Daedalus built the labyrinth for King Minos, who needed it to imprison his wife's son the Minotaur. So, this fungus has been given its genus name due to its labyrinthine gill-like pores.