Species details
Milk-white toothed polypore
Irpex lacteus
Inedible
Photo: Sarah Culliton · CC BY 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A whitish to cream resupinate wood fungus whose fertile surface changes from pores into numerous short teeth, giving a rasp-like appearance.
Identification features
The fruitbody lies thinly against wood; margins may turn outward to form small caps. The surface is whitish and the fertile layer changes from pores into torn teeth.
Identification checklist
Check for a whitish patch on wood and the characteristic rasp-like fertile surface with tooth-like remnants of pores.
Detailed features
- Hymenophore
- The surface is whitish, and the fertile layer changes from pores into ragged teeth.
Habitat
Grows on dead hardwood branches and trunks through much of the year.
Fruiting period
March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Notes
- Grows on dead hardwood branches and trunks through much of the year.
How to separate similar species
Related crust-like wood fungi can look similar; old specimens are harder to identify.
Similar species
- Split porecrust (Schizopora paradoxa)
- Steccherinum species
- Trametes species