| Fomitopsis pinicola | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Polyporales |
| Family: | Fomitopsidaceae |
| Genus: | Fomitopsis |
| Species: | F. pinicola |
| Binomial name | |
| Fomitopsis pinicola (Sw.:Fr.) P. Karst. |
|
| Fomitopsis pinicola | |
|---|---|
| Mycological characteristics | |
| pores on hymenium | |
| no distinct cap | |
| hymenium is decurrent | |
| lacks a stipe | |
| spore print is yellow | |
| ecology is saprotrophic | |
| edibility: inedible | |
Fomitopsis pinicola, in English sometimes known as Red Banded Polypore, is a polypore mushroom of the genus Fomitopsis. The species is common throughout the temperate Northern hemisphere. An alternative binomial name is Fomes pinicola.
Cap hoof-shaped or triangular, hard and tough texture, up to 30-40 x 25 x 10 cm. Surface is more or less smooth, at first orange-yellow with a white margin, later dark reddish to brown and then frequently with orange margin. Pore surface pale yellow to leather-brown, 3-4 pores per mm. Grows on live and dead coniferous or (less common) deciduous trees.
The fruiting body of Fomitopsis pinicola is called the conk. It is a woody, pileate fruiting body with pores lined with basidia on its underside. As in other polypores, the fruiting body is perennial with a new layer of pores produced each year on the bottom of the old pores.
This mushroom is inedible due to its woody texture, but it is useful as tinder.