Cap is cinnamon-colored, then of a date brown, leathery, tough, funnel-shaped, becoming smooth, zoned. Pores minute, angular, acute, at first sprinkled with a white bloom, then naked and torn. Stem slightly firm,
thickened downward, velvety. This is a common species, and one meets with it everywhere on the ground, and on stumps, from July to January. The cap is 1½ to 2 inches broad, and the stem 1 inch long.
POLYPORUS PICIPES = pitch and foot.
The Black-stemmed Polyporus.
Cap pallid color, then turning chestnut, often a pale yellowish livid color, with the disc chestnut, fleshy, leathery, rigid, tough, even, smooth, depressed at disc or behind. Flesh white. Stem eccentric and lateral, equal, firm, at first velvety, then naked, and dotted black up to the pores. Pores decurrent, round, very small, rather slender, white, then slightly pale and yellowish. This fungus grows on the trunks of trees, and is found as late as the middle of winter.
POLYPORUS SULPHUREUS = brimstone.
The Sulphury Polyporus.
This mushroom gains its name from the color of its pores, which are of a bright sulphur color. It grows in tufted layers (cæspitose), sometimes 1 to 2 feet long, and it cannot be mistaken.
Cap may measure 8 inches in breadth, and is of a reddish-yellow color, overlapping like the shingles of a roof (imbricated). It is wavy and rather smooth. Flesh light yellowish, then white, splitting open. Pores are minute, even, sulphur yellow. They retain their color much better than the pileus. The plants are generally without a stem, but there may be a short stem, which is lateral. They grow in clusters, all fastened together and one above the other, and of all sizes. We saw this fungus first in a dense woods, where its bright color at once attracted our notice. It was growing in a large cluster, closely packed one over the other. It is said to be good for food when young and tender.
POLYPORUS LUCIDUS = bright.
The Shining Polyporus.
One can never mistake this fungus. Its surface looks as if covered with varnish, rather wrinkled, a bright dark-red color, and its shape is varied and singular. We have seen it sometimes shaped like a fan, and like a lady’s high comb, or in some fantastic form. Stevenson says it is a light yellow color and then becomes blood red chestnut. It is first corky, then
woody. Stem lateral, equal, varnished, shining, of the same color as cap. Pores are long, very small, white and then cinnamon color. It grows on and about stumps during the summer. Cap is from 2 to 6 inches broad, and the stem 6 to 10 inches long, and 1 or more thick.