Skip to main content
Close

Polypore variable

Polyporus varius (Pers.) Fr. 1821

Photo by AlexKonig
Published on Project Noah
Zoom
NominateNominate for Wildlife Photograph of the Month
reportFlag Spotting

50.8843, 5.98617

Field Notes

Description:

Typically fruiting on smaller hardwood sticks and decaying branches, this polypore is easily recognized by its fairly small size, its whitish pore surface, and its black, or half-black, central stem. It is widely distributed across North America, and appears to vary somewhat in the color and texture of its cap. Like many polypores it is rather tough, and can manage to "stay up" for quite a while in dry weather--resulting in older specimens with faded, nearly white caps and sordid brownish pore surfaces
( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/polyporus_varius.html )

Habitat:

location: Europe
edibility: Inedible
fungus colour: White to cream, Yellow, Grey to beige
normal size: 5-15cm
cap type: Funnel shaped
stem type: Lateral, rudimentary or absent
flesh: Pore material cannot be seperated from flesh of the cap
spore colour: White, cream or yellowish
habitat: Grows on wood

Polyporus varius Pers. ex Fr. Veränderlicher Porling Polypore variable. Cap 1–10cm across, infundibuliform, or irregularly kidney-shaped, depressed above the point of attachment to the stem, wavy and often lobed at the margin, ochre-brown with fine radial lines becoming tobacco-brown with age. Stem 5–30 x 5–15mm, lateral or off-centre, the basal part brown-black. Flesh white when fresh, drying corky and cream-coloured, tough and leathery. Taste slightly bitter, smell faint and mushroomy. Tubes 0.5–2.5mm long, decurrent down the stem, white to cream. Pores 4–7 per mm, circular, white becoming ochraceous-brown. Spores white, ellipsoid to fusiform, 5–9 x 3–4um. Hyphal structure dimitic with generative and binding hyphae; generative hyphae with clamp connections. Habitat on dead or dying deciduous trees. Season late spring to autumn, annual. Occasional. Not edible. Found In Europe

( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~6677.asp )

Notes:

Derivation of name: Polyporus means "many pores";
varius means "different" or "changing."
Synonymy: Polyporus elegans Bull.: Fr.
Common names: Elegant polypore.
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Order: Polyporales
Family: Polyporaceae
Occurrence on wood substrate: Saprobic; solitary to
scattered on dead deciduous wood, sometimes on conifers;
June through November.
Dimensions: Caps 1-12 cm wide; stipes 0.5-7.5 cm long
and 1.5-15 mm thick, central to lateral.
Upper surface: Yellowish to ochre to tan; smooth; glabrous;
not zonate; sometimes with radial striations.
Pore surface: White to gray or yellowish; pores 4-5 per
mm.
Edibility: Inedible.
Comments: The black base of the stalk is an important
field character
( http://www.messiah.edu/Oakes/fungi_on_wood/poroid%20fungi/species%20pag… )
( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Link=T&Rec=225640 )

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (0)

Be the first to comment

Sign in to comment

Spotted for Missions

Photographed
PublishedMarch 11, 2012

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph 
Every Species in the World!

Image
Butterflies icon

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!

Play Baboon