Species details
Shell-shaped bracket
Phellinopsis conchata
Inedible
Photo: Svencapoeira · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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.
Detailed features
- Flesh
- The flesh is hard and corky.
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
Ecology
- Host trees
- Willow (Salix)
- Notes
- Grows year-round on living and dead parts of deciduous trees, commonly on trunks and branches.
How to separate similar species
It can resemble other perennial brown polypores. Host tree, margin shape and pore structure help separate it.