Coltricia perennis - Tiger's Eye

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Polyporales

Although most polypores grow as either crusts or brackets, there are a few that form cup-like fruitbodies. One of these is Tiger’s Eye, a very attractive cup-and-stem fungus that grows in humus-rich sandy soil on woodland edges and on acidic heathland.

Young specimens have downy infertile (upper) cap surfaces but the down is only transient; older caps usually have radial furrows and irregular, wrinkled margins.

Identification Guide

Cap	Shallow, thin-fleshed cup, 3 to 10cm dia.; upper surface velvety, becoming smooth, concentrically zoned in shades of ochre, mid brown and red-brown, margin pale.
Pores	Grey-brown, angular; tubes decurrent, 3 to 4 per mm.
Spore print	Golden brown.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On sandy soil on woodland edges and heathland.
Season	Perennial, sporulating in the autumn.
Occurrence	Uncommon.
Similar species	Trametes versicolor, Turkeytail, sometimes produces rosettes but they are generally lobed and produce white spores.