Train Wrecker

Lentinus lepideus

On dead, more rarely living coniferous trees. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies large. Cap 5–23 cm across, flattened, slightly depressed, scaly, cracked, fissured, white, firm. Gills crowded, broad (up to 2 cm), cream, edges toothed, semi-decurrent. Stem central, sometimes lateral, woody, white, with remnants of a ring, 5–8x2–6 cm. Flesh white, hard, firm, woody, up to 2 cm thick, with a pleasant smell, not bitter. Characteristic features: white, large, woody fruiting bodies. Cap surface cracked. Grows singly on wooden structures, most often on railway sleepers or the foundations of other buildings. Inedible. A wood saprotroph, fairly active.