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Project Noah Nature School
Fomitopsis pinicola
This species of bracket fungus is fairly young compared to an adult; in the juvenile state, it shows these orange and yellowish colors with a white margin (border), and upon maturity, a dark-red to brown center with a orange margin. The aged polypore will grow to be up to 45 centimeters wide.
The Red Banded Polypore appears in various conifer forests of North America, and seems to be nonexistant in the Southeast. They prey off of either fallen/dead trees or can sometimes be found on old living ones (http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/713...).
F. pinicola is perennial; a new layer of growth is formed every year over the existing one, resulting in a very dark center to a bright and fresh margin (http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wo...). Additionally, despite the name, the margin is not always red. It is otherwise known by my lady and I as "pancake mushrooms." :)
Once again, thank you surekha! I'm convinced that this is baby F. pinicola! Ahhhh I can finally get some sleep now, this mystery was killing me. Many thanks to you too Fireheart; I highly value any opinions. :)
possible... :)
you may also look at :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/treegrow/36...
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/resources/health...
@ Fireheart: that's exactly what's been puzzling me about what mushroom this could be... besides, the Reishi's usually found on the other side of the Earth, in Asia. :p
@ surekha: I think you're on to something! I searched on Google images and came up with this: http://www.public.asu.edu/~stbates/azfun...
Coincidentally, this is a website for Arizona mushrooms, where this happened to come from. Looks like it might be a red belted conk!
could it be Red belted conk ...
http://herb-discovery.com/chemistry/mush...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomitopsis_...
You know, I think your right. It doesn't have the distinct rings in it,...cool.
No, I have no idea about the kind of tree this was on. It's a mixed conifer forest, if that helps. But I'm still a bit unsure; reishi have a more darker and reddish tinge near the center than this fairly orange fungus: http://www.magicmushrooms.org/shop/image...
So can the variation from area to area range this much?
I would agree that it is a Ganoderma lucidum. I know a Doctor of Oriental medicine and he confirmed it. Do you know what bark it was growing off of?
I feel a little bit unsure of that ID, simply because G. applanatum seems to have a dull, sand-like center and not really like the shiny bright and smooth orange of this bracket fungus. Or there may be G. applanatum that they like this from region to region, and I'd be unaware of that.
Spotted on Aug 27, 2011
Submitted on Sep 21, 2011
