Description
"Fomes fomentarius (L. ex Fr.) KickxEchter Zunderschwamm Amadouvier, Hoof Fungus or Tinder Bracket. Bracket 5aa45cm across, 3aa25cm wide, 2aa25cm thick, hoof-shaped, hard and woody, usually discrete but several fruit bodies may occur on the same trunk; upper surface with a hard horny crust, concentrically grooved and zoned grey. Flesh hard, fibrous, cinnamon-brown. Taste acrid, smell slightly fruity. Tubes 2aa7mm long in each layer, rusty-brown. Pores 2aa3 per mm, circular, light grey-brown darkening when handled. Habitat usually on birch in Scotland and Northern England, but also on beech (in the Netherlands). The few record from Southern England are mostly on beech and sycamore. Season sporulating in spring to early summer, perennial. Quite common in the Netherlands on Birch and Beech. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe (source R. Phillips).This is a beautiful Wood Fungus on dead Wood of Beech ( Fagus sylvatica) and Birch (Betula pendula). This one grows on a fallen trunk of Birch.In earlier days, the inner part of the Fungus was used to making Fire.Related images:"