(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
Oak Bracket
Inedible 
Autumn 
Summer 
A majestic, distinctive, annual polypore with amber-coloured guttation droplets.
| Mushroom Type | |
| Common Names | Oak Bracket, Warted Oak Polypore, Weeping Polypore, Weeping Conk, Ysgwydd Derw (CY), Bladoporek Płaczący (PL), Könnyező Rozsdástapló (HU) |
| Scientific Name | Pseudoinonotus dryadeus |
| Synonyms | Fomitiporia dryadea, Xanthochrous dryadeus, Inonotus dryadeus, Phellinus dryadeus, Fomes druadeus, Polyporus dryadeus |
| Season Start | Aug |
| Season End | Nov |
| Average Mushroom height (CM) | |
| Average Cap width (CM) | 10–25 |
Fruiting Body
Annual, 10–25cm x 7–15 cm (sometimes even larger), up to 15 cm thick. Cushion to classical bracket shape, broadely attached to the host/substrate.
Sterile (upper) surface ochre yellow to orange-brown (sometimes paler), rather velvety at first, might be smoother with age. Margin is yellow, pitted, secreting amber-coloured guttation droplets. Fertile surface is poroid.
Pores
Tubes up to 3 cm long, somewhat greyish. Pores 4–6 per mm (sometimes wider and only have 2–4 per mm), circular to angular; buff at first, becoming darker brown with age.
Flesh
Up to 10 cm thick, fibrous, dense, zonate. Bright yellowish brown at first, deeper reddish brown with age, black in KOH.
Habitat
Grows individually or in small, overlapping clusters – a few fruitbodies can be laterally fused – around the base of broadleaf trees. It prefers Oak (Quercus), but occasionally it can be found on other hardwood genera, including Sweet Chestnut (Castanea), Maple (Acer), Elm (Ulmus), etc. Necrotrophic parasite (attacking the roots of the weak, damaged trees), causes white-rot.
Possible Confusion
It is a very distinctive polypore. When it is young, it is hard to confuse with anything else.
Clustered Bracket (Inonotus cuticularis), pictured, has different host/substrate. It prefers Beech, rarely, but also can be found on Sycamore. Its upper surface is rather bristly, it doesn’t secrete guttation droplets, and it mostly grows higher on the trunk of its hosts, not around the roots or in the lower 60–70 cm.
Beefsteak Fungus (Fistulina hepatica) and its anamorphic form, Confistulina hepatica share the same hosts, but the fruitbodies are soft, rarely secretes guttation droplets (which could be colourless, translucent), and often ‘bleeds’ when cut.
Some authors suggest if old Oak Bracket could be confused with the protected Oak Polypore (Fomitopsis pulvina, syn: Buglossoporus quercinus). Although we respectfully disagree, we are happily take any opportunities to highlight one of our protected species (in the UK).
Spore Print
Spore print is yellowish to brownish. Spores almost spherical (subglobose), smooth, colourless (hyaline) and thick-walled.
Taste / Smell
Inedible, taste mildly acidic, sour, smell can be unpleasant.
Frequency
Occasional and widespread.
Other Facts
The prefix ‘pseudo-‘ in the scientific name means: false, pretend, unreal and/or does look like…, etc., and it refers to the fact that Pseudoinonotus species show great resemblance with Inonotus species (they were considered Inonotus species earlier).
COMMENTS