About this fungus
Trainwrecker is a fungus in the Polyporaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A tough, pale wood-rotting mushroom with coarse brown cap scales, a stout scaly stem and whitish gills whose edges look irregularly sawn.
What to check
Check the combination of a dry cream to pale buff cap with flattened brown scales, white to cream gills running down the stem, clearly toothed gill edges and firm fibrous flesh. A membranous ring is most evident when young but can collapse into an incomplete ring zone or disappear. A faint anise-like odour sometimes supports the identification but is not constant.
Variation
Young caps are rounded with an inrolled margin. They broaden, flatten or become shallowly depressed, and old dry caps may split at the edge. Gills and stem can develop buff or rusty stains with age, while scale density varies considerably.
Lookalikes
Neolentinus ponderosus is a western North American conifer species with a tan to yellow-brown cap and no partial veil or ring. Pleurotus dryinus can also be pale, scaly and veiled on wood, but has softer flesh and gill edges that are not saw-toothed. Confirm the wood type, gill edge and veil characters together.
Habitat and range
A brown-rot fungus of dead conifer wood, especially pine, found on stumps, logs and worked timber across northern temperate regions. It is particularly noted on railway sleepers, poles and other treated wood.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Hagen Graebner / CC BY-SA 3.0