Hairy Bracket

Description

The hairy bracket forms thin, tough, semicircular or fan-shaped shelves, usually a few centimetres wide (up to 10–15 cm). The upper surface is hairy, felty, with concentric grooves, in shades from whitish through greyish-yellow to nut-brown; the margin is often darker and wavy. Sometimes the fruiting bodies turn green from algae growing on them. The underside is white or cream, with fine, round pores whose tubes are not visible to the naked eye.

It grows year-round, usually in groups, in rows, on dead wood of broadleaved trees, most often beech and birch, in well-lit places: on stumps, branches, fences and stored timber. In Poland it is common.

It is most easily confused with turkey tail, which has more distinct, colourful zones, and with Trametes pubescens, which is almost uniformly white and has no grooves. It differs from the birch mazegill in its underside: it has pores, not gills. It is inedible because the flesh is leathery and tough.

Identification features

Cap

Annual fruiting body, flat, attached sideways to the substrate, semicircular, fan-shaped or shell-shaped; width up to 10–15 cm (descriptions give different ranges; exceptionally more), thickness up to about 1 cm. The surface is covered with short hairs, hairy or felty, with concentric grooving or faint zonation. Colour ranges from whitish through greyish-yellow and rusty to nut-brown; the margin is usually darker (brownish), wavy or scalloped, sometimes yellowish. Fruiting bodies are often overgrown by algae and then turn green. No bluish or grey-black shades occur. It often grows in groups, in rows; the species is highly variable in morphology.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Tubular, tubes in a single layer, 1–3 (exceptionally up to 5) mm long. Pores round or polygonal, 0.2–0.4 mm in diameter; white on young fruiting bodies, then cream, finally greyish or rusty. The fruiting body is attached sideways; there is no stem.

Stem

Absent; the fruiting body is sessile.

Flesh

Whitish, flexible, leathery, 2–6 mm thick (up to 5 mm in some descriptions), too tough to eat. Smell slightly of aniseed. In section there is a soft grey upper layer and a whitish lower layer separated by a black line. The flesh should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white or straw-yellow. Spores smooth, cylindrical, with a pointed base, straight or slightly curved, non-amyloid; size 6–7.5 × 1.5–2.5 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A saprotroph causing white rot of wood; it can also be a parasite of weakened trees, entering through wounds. It attacks mainly broadleaved trees (birch, beech, rowan, oak, willow), less often conifers; it is especially common on beech wood. It prefers dry wood and well-lit places: stumps, dead trees and branches, as well as wooden fences, poles and stored timber.

Distribution. A cosmopolitan species, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. In Central Europe it is one of the most common bracket fungi, and in Poland it is common: in forests, thickets, parks and gardens. It is not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. Year-round; the fruiting bodies persist for a long time thanks to their leathery consistency.

What can it be confused with?

• Trametes versicolor (turkey tail) — More distinctly zoned, with colourful, more contrasting zones; the cap is thinner and less hairy.
• Trametes pubescens (Polish: wrośniak miękkowłosy) — It also has hairs on the cap, but is almost uniformly white or buff, without concentric grooving and without layered flesh; much rarer.
• Lenzites betulinus (birch mazegill; in Polish literature also called blaszkowiec drobnozarodnikowy) — From above it can be indistinguishable; it differs in its underside, which has gills rather than tubes with pores.
• Trametes ochracea (ochre bracket) — Fruiting bodies more distinctly zoned, more colourful, triangular in cross-section.

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

• It was first described in 1791 by Franz Xaver von Wulfen as Boletus hirsutus; its current genus name was given in 1924 by Curtis Gates Lloyd.
• It has about 80 scientific synonyms, which reflects its great variability and the repeated description of the same species.
• It causes white rot of wood and can also destroy timber in use, e.g. fences, poles and stored wood.
• The English name “hairy bracket” (also “hairy turkey tail”) refers to the hairy surface of the fruiting body.