Species details
Shell-shaped bracket
Phellinopsis conchata
Inedible
Photo: Garrett Taylor · CC0 · Photo source · License
Description
A shell-shaped, hard woody polypore growing on living and dead parts of deciduous trees, often in groups and overlapping tiers.
Identification features
Young fruitbodies may begin resupinate and later form shelf- or shell-shaped caps. The surface is light to dark brown, concentrically zoned, rough and eventually almost black-brown. The flesh is hard and corky.
Identification checklist
Look for a hard shell- or shelf-shaped fruitbody, a brown concentrically zoned surface and a poroid underside on deciduous wood.
How to separate similar species
It can resemble other perennial brown polypores. Host tree, margin shape and pore structure help separate it.
Habitat
Grows year-round on living and dead parts of deciduous trees, commonly on trunks and branches.
Fruiting period
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December