velvet-top fungus

Description:

Phaeolus schweinitzii, commonly known as velvet-top fungus, dyer's polypore,Norway Chicken, or dyer's mazegill, is a fungal plant pathogen that causes butt rot on conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruce, fir, hemlock, pine, and larch. P. schweinitzii is a polypore, although unlike bracket fungi the fruiting body may appear terrestrial when growing from the roots or base of the host tree. The fruiting bodies, appearing in late summer or fall, commonly incorporate blades of grass, twigs, or fallen pine needles as they grow. As these fruiting bodies age, the pore surface turns from yellow to greenish yellow, the top becomes darker, and the flesh becomes harder and more wood-like

Habitat:

P. schweinitzii is native to North America and Eurasia, and has been identified as an exotic species in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa

Notes:

As its common name suggests, the dyer's polypore is an excellent natural source of green, yellow, gold, or brown dye, depending on the material dyed and the mordant used. P. schweinitzii is named after Lewis David de Schweinitz, a Pennsylvania-born Moravian minister and important early American mycologist ---here it goes further with the specimen next to the first one ( http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/719... )