Alder Bracket

Inonotus radiatus

On alder snags, sometimes also on other deciduous trees. Spring, summer, autumn.

An annual fungus. Fruiting bodies 2–8 cm across, in the form of semicircular caps attached to the tree trunk by the side, arranged in overlapping tiers, fused together at the sides, stretching in rows. Cap surface wrinkled, yellowish or reddish, even blackish-brown. Pores of even size, silvery, so that depending on the distance they shimmer and radiate, changing colour. Flesh corky, hard, yellowish-brown. Hymenophore whitish, greyish, turning brownish when touched. Characteristic features: a chain of caps stretches over an area 1-3 m long on the tree trunk, the pores shimmer, changing their lustre. Grows in forests, parks and bogs. Common, a good forest sanitiser.