Multiple brackets growing on a fallen beech tree. 24 August 2020 Hampshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. Synonymns Creolophus cirrhatus Fruiting Body Bracket shaped, often in tiers, laterally attached to the substrate, upper surface white, decorated with short spines, under surface covered with spines extending to about 15 mm long, white becoming orange brown, to about 10 cm across Flesh Firm, white Smell Indistinct Taste Indistinct Season Late summer to autumn Distribution Rare, more frequent in the south Habitat On dead wood from deciduous trees, favouring beech Spore Print White Microscopic Features Spores ellipsoidal, smooth, amyloid (3.5-4.5) x (3-3.5) µm2. Basidia clavate, slender, sinuous, four spored. Gloeocystidia cylindrical, sinuous, with content. Hyphal system monomitic. Edibility Edible, but should not be collected due to its rarity Notes This species is cultivated on a commercial scale for food 
24 August 2020 Hampshire. Spores in Melzer's solution viewed with a x100 immersion objective. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
1 November 2013 Buckinghamshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
1 November 2013 Buckinghamshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. 
2 November 2013 Hampshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. |