Hairy Curtain Crust

Description

The hairy curtain crust forms thin, tough, leathery fruiting bodies a few centimetres wide, often overlapping like roof tiles as small shelves. The upper side is roughly hairy, ochre or grey-brown, with distinct concentric bands. The underside is smooth, bright yellow-orange in young fruiting bodies, fading to ochre with age. The margin is sharp and wavy.

It grows year-round on dead wood, mainly of broadleaved trees: on fallen branches and stumps, and also on fences and wooden structures. In Poland it is very common; you will find it in forests, parks and gardens, from the lowlands to the mountains.

What sets it apart from similar curtain crusts is the smooth, orange-yellow underside, which does not change colour when cut. At first glance it can be mistaken for turkey tail, but that one has fine pores on the underside. It is inedible.

Identification features

Cap

Fruiting bodies annual, numerous, 0.5–5 cm wide (descriptions give different ranges) and 1–2 mm thick; spread out, spread out with a turned-back edge, small bracket-shaped or shelf-like, wavy, often overlapping like roof tiles or fused into broader shelves. They are attached to the substrate by the upper surface, with the sides turning outward; on vertical trunks they form small reflexed caps. Upper surface hairy, velvety, rough to bristly, whitish, ochre-yellow or grey-rusty brown, concentrically zoned and striped. Margin sharp, wavy.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Smooth (without tubes, gills or spines). Bright on young fruiting bodies, then orange-yellow or ochre, fading to light orange-brown on older ones.

Stem

No stipe; the fruiting body is sessile, attached to the substrate.

Flesh

Whitish, does not change colour when cut; thin, tough, leathery to corky, covered with a thin cortex visible even under a hand lens. Smell and taste have no diagnostic significance; the flesh should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores ellipsoid-cylindrical, smooth, colourless (hyaline), amyloid, 4–8 × 2.5–3.5 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph causing white rot of wood. Grows mainly on dead hardwood (e.g. alder, birch, hornbeam, beech, oak, linden, hazel, cherry, plum), rarely on conifers (e.g. fir); most often on fallen branches and stumps. It also occurs on living trees, attacking damaged areas of bark (a pathogen of peach, among others), and on timber in use: fences, railway sleepers, greenhouse structures, and in damp homes on floors and wall panelling. Other fungi parasitise its fruiting bodies, including the orange jelly fungus (Naematelia aurantia) and Phaeotremella frondosa.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan: all continents except Antarctica (North America, Europe from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean and the British Isles, Australia). In Poland very common throughout the country, from the lowlands to the upper tree line and even in the dwarf-pine zone; one of the most frequent fungi on dead wood. It is not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. Fruiting bodies year-round.

What can it be confused with?

• Stereum gausapatum (bleeding oak crust) — Grows on oak; fruiting body clearly spread out or spread out with a turned-back edge, hymenophore darker, chocolate brown.
• Stereum subtomentosum (yellowing curtain crust) — Fruiting body attached to the substrate by its side, flesh turns yellow when cut; hymenophore never bright yellow or orange, but darker, ochre to coffee-coloured.
• Stereum ochraceoflavum (ochre-yellow curtain crust) — Grows mainly on thin twigs, most often of oak; fruiting bodies smaller and thinner, hymenophore pale orange-yellow or brownish grey-ochre.
• Byssomerulius corium (netted crust) — Hymenophore also smooth, but sometimes irregularly netted or pitted with pores; fruiting bodies cream, pale yellowish or greyish.
• Trametes versicolor (turkey tail) — Underside with fine pores instead of a smooth, orange hymenophore; upper surface multicoloured rather than roughly hairy in ochre tones.
• Stereum ostrea, Stereum rameale — Sometimes listed as similar species; detailed distinguishing features require confirmation.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The English name “false turkey tail” alludes to its resemblance to turkey tail (Trametes versicolor).
• It is the type species of the family Stereaceae.
• Described by Carl von Willdenow in 1787 as Thelephora hirsuta; the Polish name was given in 1888 by Franciszek Błoński.
• Another fungus, the orange jelly fungus (Naematelia aurantia), parasitises its fruiting bodies.