Northern Cinnabar Polypore

Description

The Northern Cinnabar Polypore forms hard, corky fruiting bodies in the shape of a semicircle or fan, up to about 10 cm wide, attached by their side to dead wood. The whole surface, including the underside with its tiny pores, is an intense cinnabar-red or brick colour, without distinct zones; in older specimens the colour fades. Thanks to this colour it is easy to recognise.

It grows on trunks, stumps and branches of broadleaved trees, most often in humid, sunlit places, e.g. in riverside alluvial forests on alders, willows and birches. In Poland it is rare. It can be confused with the shining orange polypore (Pycnoporellus fulgens), which has fruiting bodies of a similar colour but grows mainly on conifers.

It is an inedible fungus with hard, fibrous flesh and no culinary value.

Identification features

Cap

Fruiting body semicircular or fan-shaped, attached to the substrate by its side, up to about 10–12 cm wide and up to about 1.5–2 cm thick. Margin thin and sharp. Upper surface usually uneven, wrinkled, without zonation. Colour cinnabar, reddish, brick-red or orangish; fading in older specimens. Darkens in KOH.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Poroid (tubes); pores round or angular, cinnabar or reddish in colour, about 2–4 per millimetre.

Stem

No stem; the fruiting body is sessile, attached to the wood by its side.

Flesh

Up to about 2 cm thick, cinnabar-coloured, flexible, fibrous, odourless. The flesh should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores non-amyloid, cylindrical to elliptical, smooth, colourless, about 5–8 × 2.5–3 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph causing white rot of wood. Grows on dead wood (trunks, stumps, branches) of broadleaved trees, mainly in well-lit, humid places, e.g. in riverside alluvial forests on alders, willows and birches. Produces numerous lignin-degrading enzymes, above all laccase. Isolated observations also point to possible mycorrhizal relationships, not yet fully explained.

Distribution. Cosmopolitan: occurs on all continents except Africa and Antarctica, including some islands; most records are from North America, Europe and Australia. Described as common in Central Europe, but considered rare in Poland. On the Red List of Plants and Fungi of Poland it has category R (rare, potentially threatened because of its limited range and small habitat areas); it is also on lists of threatened species in, among others, Switzerland, England, Lithuania and Germany. It is not under species protection in Poland. It fruits more often in hot summers.

Fruiting. No data.

What can it be confused with?

• Pycnoporellus fulgens (shining orange polypore) — Fruiting bodies of a similar colour (orange or brick-red), but it grows mainly on conifers. The Northern Cinnabar Polypore grows on broadleaved trees and has a distinctly cinnabar colour.

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 species was described in 1776 by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin as Boletus cinnabarinus; the epithet refers to cinnabar, a red mineral.
• It produces large amounts of laccase, an enzyme that breaks down lignin, and is therefore studied in biotechnology, including for the natural production of vanillin from ferulic acid.
• In Poland it is considered a rare species, although in Central Europe it is sometimes described as common; it occurs on all continents except Africa and Antarctica.
• It appears more often in hot summers.