About this fungus
Bay Polypore is a fungus in the Polyporaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A thin, often lobed or funnel-shaped polypore with a smooth glossy bay to chestnut cap and an off-centre stem that darkens to black at the base.
What to check
Turn it over to confirm a white to cream surface of very fine pores, not gills. The pores run slightly down a central or off-centre stem whose lower part is dark brown to black. The cap is thin and the flesh becomes tough and leathery.
Variation
Young caps may be pale grey-brown and slightly sticky. They become chestnut to very dark brown, usually darkest at the centre, and often dry smooth and shiny.
Lookalikes
Cerioporus varius and other stemmed polypores can be similar but differ in cap texture, pore size and the extent of blackening on the stem. Regional Picipes species may need microscopy, so cap colour alone is not decisive.
Habitat and range
Saprotrophic on dead hardwood trunks, logs and branches, including beech, willow and other broadleaved trees. It occasionally fruits from dead portions of living trees.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Ron Pastorino / CC BY-SA 3.0