The pileus is from four to ten inches across, fleshy, soon corky, ungulate, obtuse, smooth, pale reddish-brown when mature, often mottled, roundish, or somewhat reniform, zoneless, the oblique vertex in the form of an umbo; pellicle thin, separating; flesh white, very thick.
The pores are short, round, minute, unequal, separable from the pileus when fresh, but really concrete with it; white or tinged with brown, developing slowly; when mature there are peculiar hair-like scales attached to the pore-surface, making the plant look like a Hydnum when viewed from the side. It is found wherever the birch tree grows. When young and fresh it is edible, but with a strong flavor unpleasant to many. In this state the deer eat it. The specimen in Figure 337 was found in Wisconsin, and photographed by Dr. Kellerman. This species is the Piptoporus suberosus (L.) of Merrill.
Polyporus cinnabarinus. Schw.
Cinnabar Polyporus.
Figure 338.—Polyporus cinnabarinus. One-third natural size.
Cinnabarinus like cinnabar (vermilion). The pileus is dry, more or less spongy, pliant, rather thick, fibrous on top; flesh light or yellowish-red, shelving.
The pores are carmine, quite small, round, entire.
This species is quite common in the woods about Chillicothe. It is easily identified by the beautiful carmine color of the pileus and the pore surface, the latter being a shade darker than the former, as will be seen in Figure 338.