Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Some species, especially Laetiporus sulphureus, are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because it is often described as tasting like and having a texture similar to that of chicken meat.
Laetiporus sulphureus is a species of bracket fungus found in Europe and North America. Its common names are crab-of-the-woods, sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken-of-the-woods. Its fruit bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Old fruitbodies fade to pale beige or pale grey. The undersurface of the fruit body is made up of tubelike pores rather than gills.
Daedaleopsis confragosa, commonly known as the thin walled maze polypore or the blushing bracket, is a species of polypore fungus in the family Polyporaceae. A plant pathogen, it causes a white rot of injured hardwoods, especially willows. The fruit bodies are semicircular and tough, have a concentrically zoned brownish upper surface, and measure up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. The whitish underside turns gray-brown as the fruit body ages, but bruises pink or red. It is found all year and is common in northern temperate woodlands of eastern North America, Europe, and Asia. The species was first described from Europe in 1791 as a form of Boletus, and has undergone several changes of genus in its taxonomic history. It acquired its current name when Joseph Schröter transferred it to Daedaleopsis in 1888.
Trametes elegans, also known as Lenzites elegans and Daedalea elegans, is a common polypore and wood-decay fungus with a pantropical distribution found on hardwood hosts in regions including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It has recently been suggested to be a complex of three different species: T. elegans,T. aesculi, and T. repanda.
Meripilus giganteus is a polypore fungus in the family Meripilaceae. It causes a white rot in various types of broadleaved trees, particularly beech (Fagus), but also Abies, Picea, Pinus, Quercus and Ulmus species. This bracket fungus, commonly known as the giant polypore or black-staining polypore, is often found in large clumps at the base of trees, although fruiting bodies are sometimes found some distance away from the trunk, parasitizing the roots. M. giganteus has a circumboreal distribution in the northern Hemisphere, and is widely distributed in Europe. In the field, it is recognizable by the large, multi-capped fruiting body, as well as its pore surface that quickly darkens black when bruised or injured.
Neofavolus alveolaris, commonly known as the hexagonal-pored polypore, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It causes a white rot of dead hardwoods. Found on sticks and decaying logs, its distinguishing features are its yellowish to orange scaly cap, and the hexagonal or diamond-shaped pores. It is widely distributed in North America, and also found in Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Armillaria nabsnona is a species of fungus in the family Physalacriaceae. The species is found in the west coast of North America, Hawaii, and Japan, where it grows on decaying hardwoods, particularly species of alder. Its fruit bodies have convex to flattened orange-brown caps up to 7 cm in diameter, brown stipes, and whitish to pinkish-tan gills.
Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus, commonly known as the violet-grey bolete, is a fungus of the bolete family. First described in 1936, the mushroom has a disjunct distribution, and is distributed in eastern North America and Korea. The fruit bodies of the fungus are violet when young, but fade into a chocolate brown color when mature. They are solid and relatively large—cap diameter up to 15 cm (5.9 in), with a white pore surface that later turns pink, and a white mycelium at the base of the stem. The mushroom is inedible. A number of natural products have been identified from the fruit bodies, including unique chemical derivatives of ergosterol, a fungal sterol.
Phellinus ellipsoideus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae, a specimen of which produced the largest fungal fruit body ever recorded. Found in China, the fruit bodies produced by the species are brown, woody basidiocarps that grow on dead wood, where the fungus feeds as a saprotroph. The basidiocarps are perennial, allowing them to grow very large under favourable circumstances. They are resupinate, measuring 30 centimetres (12 in) or more in length, though typically extending less than a centimetre from the surface of the wood. P. ellipsoideus produces distinct ellipsoidal spores, after which it is named, and unusual setae. These two features allow it to be readily differentiated microscopically from other, similar species. Chemical compounds isolated from the species include several steroidal compounds. These may have pharmacological applications, but further research is needed.
Tylopilus tabacinus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It is characterized by a tawny-brown cap measuring up to 17.5 cm (6.9 in) in diameter, and a reticulated stem up to 16.5 cm (6.5 in) long by 6 cm (2.4 in) thick. A characteristic microscopic feature is the distinctive crystalline substance encrusted on the hyphae in the surface of the cap. The species is known from the eastern United States from Florida north to Rhode Island, and west to Mississippi, and from eastern Mexico. It is a mycorrhizal species, and associates with oak and beech trees.
Boletus rubroflammeus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. First described from Michigan in 1971, it is found in the eastern United States and Mexico, where it grows in a mycorrhizal association with hardwood trees. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) of the fungus have caps that are deep red to purplish red, and dark red pores. The stem has coarse, dark red reticulations and a narrow yellow area at the top. All parts of the mushroom quickly stain blue when injured or cut. Lookalikes include Boletus flammans, a lighter-colored species that grows with conifers. Other similar species can be distinguished by differences in distribution, morphology, staining reaction, and microscopic characteristics. Boletus rubroflammeus mushrooms are poisonous, and can cause gastrointestinal distress if consumed.
Boletus curtisii is a species of fungus in the family Boletaceae. It produces small- to medium-sized fruit bodies (mushrooms) with a convex cap up to 9.5 cm (3.7 in) wide atop a slender stem that can reach a length of 12 cm (4.7 in). In young specimens, the cap and stem are bright golden yellow, although the color dulls to brownish when old. Both the stem and cap are slimy or sticky when young. On the underside of the cap are small circular to angular pores. The mushroom is edible, but not appealing. It is found in eastern and southern North America, where it grows in a mycorrhizal association with hardwood and conifer trees. Once classified as a species of Pulveroboletus, the yellow color of B. curtisii is a result of pigments chemically distinct from those responsible for the yellow coloring of Pulveroboletus.
Boletus subvelutipes, commonly known as the red-mouth bolete, is a bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. It is found in Asia and North America, where it fruits on the ground in a mycorrhizal association with both deciduous and coniferous trees. Its fruit bodies (mushrooms) have a brown to reddish-brown cap, bright yellow cap flesh, and a stem covered by furfuraceous to punctate ornamentation and dark red hairs at the base. Its flesh instantly stains blue when cut, but slowly fades to white. The fruit bodies are poisonous, causing gastroenteritis if consumed.
Picipes badius, commonly known as the black-footed polypore or black-leg, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It causes a white rot of hardwoods and conifers. The species is found in temperate areas of Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. It has a dark brown or reddish-brown cap that reaches a diameter of 25 cm (9.8 in), and a stipe that is often completely black or brown at the top and black at the base.
Boletus subluridellus is a species of bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. Described as new to science in 1971 by American mycologists, the bolete is found in the eastern United States and Canada. It grows on the ground in coniferous and mixed forests in a mycorrhizal association with deciduous trees, especially oak. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) have orangish-red, broadly convex caps that are up to 10 cm (3.9 in) in diameter, with small, dark reddish pores on the underside. The pale yellow stipe measures 4–9 cm (1.6–3.5 in) long by 1.5–2.3 cm (0.6–0.9 in) thick. All parts of the fruit body will quickly stain blue when injured or touched.
Xeromphalina kauffmanii is a species of agaric fungus in the family Mycenaceae. Found in North America, Costa Rica, and Japan, it was described as new to science in 1953. The type collection was made in Chelsea, Michigan, in June 1940. The specific epithet kauffmanii honors American mycologist Calvin Henry Kauffman.
Tylopilus oradivensis is a bolete fungus in the family Boletaceae. Found in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica, it was described as new to science in 2010 by mycologists Todd Osmundson and Roy Halling. The bolete fruits scattered or in groups under oak trees, at elevations ranging between 1,600 and 1,850 m. The specific epithet combines the words ora ("coast"), dives ("rich"), and the suffix ensis to refer to the type locality.
Laetiporus ailaoshanensis is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in southwestern China, where it grows on Lithocarpus. The species was described as new to science in 2014 by Baokai Cui and Jie Song. Its fruit body has an orange-yellow to reddish-orange cap surface, with cream to buff pores on the cap underside. The fungus produces ovoid to ellipsoid basidiospores that measure 5.0–6.2 by 4.0–5.0 μm. Molecular analysis of internal transcribed spacer DNA sequences indicate that L. ailaoshanensis is a unique lineage in the genus Laetiporus.
Laetiporus conifericola is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in western North America ranging from California to Alaska, where it grows as a plant pathogen on conifer trees, particularly fir, spruce, and hemlock. Fruit bodies of the fungus comprise overlapping pore-bearing plates, measuring collectively up to 60 cm (24 in) across, and up to 4 cm (2 in) thick. Their color ranges from bright orange to salmon orange on the upper surface of the cap and stipe, with a yellow pore surface on the cap underside. Spores are egg-shaped, smooth, hyaline (translucent), and measure 6.5–8.0 by 4.0–5.0 μm. The species has a pleasant odour when fresh.
Laetiporus montanus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in mountainous areas of central Europe and in China, where it grows on conifers.
