Alder Bracket, Mensularia radiata I think

 

Very old, broken down Alder Bracket at the corner of Dene Park where the pipe inlet is, and there is a small collection of tall Black Alder trees by the side of the stream. The remnants of the brackets were exactly where the books predicted, on a dead standing Alder trunk. One of the photos in the TMA Fungi App is quite similar. However this identification was largely based on eliminating other possibilities - in other words, "what else could it be"?

The caps are more or less correct, assuming that the pores beneath have been largely eroded (worn away), and the confluence of the remaining material looks fairly typical, The flesh of the annual brackets is said to be at first soft, but becomes hard, woody and red-brown as the brackets age, as I have assumed is the case here.

The name has been regularly changed and Inonotus radiatus is still very commonly used in the reference books. The BMS recognises it as Mensularia radiatus. TMA Fungi has it, somewhat unusually, in its latest iteration, Xanthoporia radiata (Sowerby) P. Karst. 

Could this be a much less decayed version, on a nearby trunk, or is it something else entirely? 

(confirmed at the end of October, when fresher)

 

Steccherinum nitidum

 

The colour of fresh crusts is a fairly distinctive salmon-pink. Perhaps the colour deepens to a light brick red if left to age? Older or damaged crusts may also perhaps be an angrier orange? The white margins are said to be persistent, and quite substantial and clear, sometimes a bit fringed apparently. Should be easily separable from its substrate according to Lassoe and Peterson.

The pores are often angular or even labyrinthine, but usually look quite evenly spaced in my very limited experience. Sometimes angled if growing on upright or angled wood, perhaps gradually turning somewhat lacerated. Found on a wide range of fallen or still-attached dead deciduous wood. As it dries it should turn from soft to brittle.

I've now found it a couple of times in Dene Park, while Hugill and Lucas have it as uncommon, 5 - 7 pores per mm with a somewhat musty smell they claim, which I haven't checked.