Chicken of the Woods / Sulphur Shelf

Laetiporus sulphureus

On willows, oaks and other trees. Summer, less often autumn, spring.

Fruiting bodies fleshy, annual, large, up to 1 m across, several layers of flat, semicircular, fan- or spatula-shaped caps fused like roof tiles, attached to the substrate by a broad, thickened edge. The cap surface is wrinkled, orange, yellowish-orange in colour. Tubes up to 4 pm long, sulphur-yellow. Flesh up to 3 cm thick, soft, juicy, fleshy, yellowish, slightly sour in taste. Characteristic features: grows on deciduous, very rarely coniferous trees as a biotroph or as a saprotroph (in forests, parks, squares). Grows on injured parts of tree trunks, at various heights, rarely higher than 3 m. Causes a rapidly spreading heart rot. Edible when young. Very common. Of interest to medical scientists.