The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics. Many species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Some genera, such as Ganoderma and Fomes, contain species that attack living tissues and then continue to degrade the wood of their dead hosts. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine.
Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Some species, especially Laetiporus sulphureus, are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because it is often described as tasting like and having a texture similar to that of chicken meat.
Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypores are closely related to each other. Polypores are also called bracket fungi or shelf fungi, and they characteristically produce woody, shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies that are called conks.
Laetiporus sulphureus is a species of bracket fungus found in Europe and North America. Its common names are crab-of-the-woods, sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken-of-the-woods. Its fruit bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Old fruitbodies fade to pale beige or pale grey. The undersurface of the fruit body is made up of tubelike pores rather than gills.
Cerrena unicolor, commonly known as the mossy maze polypore, is a species of poroid fungus in the genus Cerrena. This saprobic fungus causes white rot.
Daedaleopsis confragosa, commonly known as the thin walled maze polypore or the blushing bracket, is a species of polypore fungus in the family Polyporaceae. A plant pathogen, it causes a white rot of injured hardwoods, especially willows. The fruit bodies are semicircular and tough, have a concentrically zoned brownish upper surface, and measure up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. The whitish underside turns gray-brown as the fruit body ages, but bruises pink or red. It is found all year and is common in northern temperate woodlands of eastern North America, Europe, and Asia. The species was first described from Europe in 1791 as a form of Boletus, and has undergone several changes of genus in its taxonomic history. It acquired its current name when Joseph Schröter transferred it to Daedaleopsis in 1888.
Phaeolus schweinitzii, commonly known as velvet-top fungus, dyer's polypore, dyer's mazegill, or pine dye polypore, is a fungal plant pathogen that causes butt rot on conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruce, fir, hemlock, pine, and larch. P. schweinitzii is a polypore, although unlike bracket fungi the fruiting body may appear terrestrial when growing from the roots or base of the host tree.
Phellinus igniarius, commonly known as the willow bracket, fire sponge,false tinder polypore, or false tinder conk, is a fungus of the family Hymenochaetaceae. Like other members of the genus of Phellinus, it lives by saprotrophic nutrition, in which the lignin and cellulose of a host tree is degraded and is a cause of white rot.
Albatrellus subrubescens is a species of polypore fungus in the family Albatrellaceae. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) of the fungus have whitish to pale buff-colored caps that can reach up to 14.5 cm (5.7 in) in diameter, and stems up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. On the underside of the caps are tiny light yellow to pale greenish-yellow pores, the site of spore production. When the fruit bodies are fresh, the cap and pores stain yellow where exposed, handled, or bruised.
Daedalea quercina is a species of mushroom in the order Polyporales, and the type species of the genus Daedalea. Commonly known as the thick-walled maze polypore, maze-gill fungusoak-loving maze polypore, or oak mazegill, the specific epithet refers to the oak genus Quercus, upon which it frequently grows, causing a brown rot. It is found in Europe, Asia, Northern Africa and Australasia. Though inedible, it can be used as a natural comb and has been the subject of chemical research.
Fuscoporia torulosa is a species of bracket fungus in the genus Fuscoporia, family Hymenochaetaceae. A wood-decay fungus, it causes a white rot of heartwood in dead and living hardwood trees in Europe, and in coniferous trees in North America.
Neofavolus alveolaris, commonly known as the hexagonal-pored polypore, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It causes a white rot of dead hardwoods. Found on sticks and decaying logs, its distinguishing features are its yellowish to orange scaly cap, and the hexagonal or diamond-shaped pores. It is widely distributed in North America, and also found in Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Grifola frondosa is a polypore mushroom that grows at the base of trees, particularly old growth oaks or maples. It is typically found in late summer to early autumn. It is native to China, Europe, and North America.
Xerocomellus zelleri, commonly known as Zeller's bolete, is an edible species of mushroom in the family Boletaceae. First described scientifically by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill in 1912, the species has been juggled by various authors to several genera, including Boletus, Boletellus, and Xerocomus. Found solely in western North America from British Columbia south to Mexico, the fruit bodies are distinguished by their dark reddish brown to nearly black caps with uneven surfaces, the yellow pores on the underside of the caps, and the red-streaked yellow stems. The fungus grows in summer and autumn on the ground, often in Douglas fir forests or on their margins. The development of the fruit bodies is gymnocarpic, meaning that the hymenium appears and develops to maturity in an exposed state, not enclosed by any protective membrane.
Fomes fomentarius is a species of fungal plant pathogen found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. The species produces very large polypore fruit bodies which are shaped like a horse's hoof and vary in colour from a silvery grey to almost black, though they are normally brown. It grows on the side of various species of tree, which it infects through broken bark, causing rot. The species typically continues to live on trees long after they have died, changing from a parasite to a decomposer.
Hapalopilus rutilans is a species of polypore fungus in the family Polyporaceae. Officially described in 1821, it was transferred to its current genus Hapalopilus six decades later. It is commonly known as the tender nesting polypore, purple dye polypore, or the cinnamon bracket. This widely distributed species is found on five continents. It grows on the fallen or standing dead wood of deciduous trees, in which it fruits singly, in groups, fused, or in overlapping clusters. Fruit bodies are in the form of kidney-shaped to semicircular, cinnamon-orange-brown brackets. The underside of the fruit body features a yellowish to brownish pore surface with tiny angular pores, from which spores are released.
Pycnoporellus alboluteus, commonly known as the orange sponge polypore, is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. Distributed throughout the boreal conifer zone, the fungus is found in mountainous regions of western North America, and in Europe. It causes a brown cubical rot of conifer wood, especially spruce, but also fir and poplar. The soft, spongy orange fruit bodies grow spread out on the surface of fallen logs. Mature specimens have tooth-like or jagged pore edges. A snowbank mushroom, P. alboluteus can often be found growing on logs or stumps protruding through melting snow. Although the edibility of the fungus and its usage for human culinary purposes are unknown, several species of beetles use the fungus as a food source.
Nigroporus vinosus is a species of poroid fungus in the family Steccherinaceae, and the type species of the genus Nigroporus. Its fruit bodies have brownish caps with tinges of purple or red. The cap underside has a pore surface the same colour as the cap, and minute pores. Nigroporus vinosus has a pantropical distribution. It has been recorded from Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Oceania. It is a wood-decay fungus that causes a white rot.
Loweomyces fractipes is a species of poroid fungus in the family Steccherinaceae, and the type species of the genus Loweomyces. It is a widely distributed species, found in North America, Europe, Central America, South America, and Korea.
