26 August 2005 Berkshire. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. Common Name Chicken of the woods, sulphur polypore Fruiting Body Fan or bracket shaped, laterally attached to the substrate, upper surface felty, when young orange at the centre, bright yellow at the margin, soon fading to yellow, eventually whitish, margin rounded, under side poroid, 2-4 pores per mm, yellow, to about 40 cm across Flesh Yellow, firm and watery when young, becoming white, dry and brittle with age Smell Fungal Taste Pleasant Season Spring to autumn Distribution Common Habitat On living wood and dead trunks of deciduous trees, especially oak and sweet chestnut, and on yew, with reports on conifers including larch and pine. Often several specimens growing close together. Spore Print White Microscopic Features Spores ellipsoidal to ovoid, smooth (5-7) x (3.5-5) µm2 Edibility Edible and good when young, old specimens are tough. The casual collector could confuse this species with Meripilus giganteus, which is indigestible and potentialy mildly poisonous. Notes Using analysis of DNA mycologists have discovered that there are two macroscopically indistinguishable species found in Europe, both going by the name of L. sulphureus. There are also several closely related and reportedly poisonous species in North America which grow on either deciduous trees or conifers. These were also discovered using analysis of the DNA. 
10 August 2008, West Sussex. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. |