Dene Park crusts

 

This is a beauty - but is it a Polypore or a sort of wrinkled crust?

A close-up of the surface, sharpened in Topaz,

Inonotus radiatus at the Farm Shop

 I walked over to a line of Alders with one noticeably struggling tree in the middle of the line, and indeed there were multiple early fruiting bodies of Inonotus radiatus, (Mensularia radiata) the Alder Bracket, "lumpily" resupinate and quite velvety at this stage, apricot or tan coloured, with limited pore development, the basidiomes forming the typical "ladder" feature up the trunk. The trunk was already splitting and lifting.

The basidiomes are not above head height, and still quite young for the season - somewhat different to the NatureSpot website in these particulars.

Coniophora puteana or arida possibly?

So on one branch my eye was drawn to a few small ovals of white fringes, each about an inch long, which it turned out appeared to be surrounding some thin dark brownish-grey oval crusts. 

With this unusual colour combination, perhaps these represent early development of a Coniophora species crusts, perhaps Coniophora puteana, a common cause of wet rot, or perhaps another species such as Coniophora arida? These and others are found in the south of England, so both are possibles. That's all I can think of, anyway!

Hapalopilus nitidans, the Cinnamon Bracket or Tender Nesting Polypore.

The UK's only toxic polypore - and it is HIGHLY toxic with a very high content of polyporic acid.

While with the Kent Field club group, we found a very lovely looking triangular bracket fungus on a small dying or dead tree. I would describe the form as "stepped". I tentatively identified the host as a Rowan or Sorbus tree and somebody who I think must have seen this bracket fungus before, tried putting some potassium hydroxide, KOH, on it. It almost immediately turned a bright violet colour suggesting that it was the toxic cinnamon bracket. Hapalopilus nidulans, a very difficult name to spell. I was pleased to say that Lassoe and Peterson also consider it quite commonly found on Sorbus. However, other sources just give it as found on mixed deciduous trees or possibly Oak and Birch. It was a delightful colour and an interesting texture on the top surface. All the factors seem to fit, so a nice step forward in bracket identification for me.

Also referred to as Hapalopilus rutilans, it might be rather commoner in Europe, but is said to be only occasional in the UK. Records in the UK seem to fairly evenly distributed north to south. This is an annual polypore bracket, breaking down to a rather dusty debris. However, these 2 or 3 brackets were quite fresh.

Note the texture of the top surface, sometimes likened to suede. The top is said to be flat to slightly convex, the overall texture of the bracket soft.

Said to be typically "triangular" in shape.

The pores are quite coarse and strongly delimited in appearance. 2 - 3 per mm. Tubes reportedly up to 1 cm deep, spore print white. There is a fairly clear margin to the underside, extended rollover in the later stages.

Junghuhnia (Steccherinum) nitidum or just possibly lacera?

Slightly more lacerate than usual, but not a British species I think. Impossible to resolve without measuring the spores under a microscope, but I should have tried to measure the pore density at least.

Stereum rameale or Chondrostereum purpureum perhaps?

 Found on a small fallen branch about 15 - 20 mm thick. Each cushion with a darker central hub, highly shaggy on the reverse side, often curled up to form a one sided cap. Fertile surface cracked so could be old and decrepit maybe?

I am completely stumped within Stereum as a genus. The fertile surfaces look like photos on the internet named as "Stereum rameale" but the shagginess is completely out, a much longer pile than Stereum hirsutum, supposedly the hairiest one in the genus. Only thing I can think of that is quite this shaggy is Silverleaf, Chondrostereum purpureum, perhaps old cushions from last season, so that all the purple has been long ago washed out? 

Wet Rot, maybe

I think this must be the very young stage of Coniophora puteana or one of its close relatives. There is no colour in the centre, but the texture is very reminiscent of this species, coupled with the furry nature of the edges, the fine white extensions. Interesting to think what these might be for, evolutionarily? Would I be able to find this log again? Very doubtful.