Laetiporus sulphureus - Chicken-of-the-Woods

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Polyporales

Laetiporus sulphureus, with its strident orange or sulphur yellow colour, is hard to miss. Known as Chicken of the Woods, or the Sulphur Polypore, this bracket fungus grows on beech, oak, chestnut and yew. Occasionally, specimens of this large and brightly-coloured polypore persist through the winter and continue fruiting the following year. This is generally rated as a good edible fungus (unless growing on wood such as Yew, which itself contains dangerous toxins that could be taken up by the fungus); however, it is best picked when young and moist.

A popular way of cooking this fungus is to cut it into slices, brush them with oil, and then fry them in breadcrumbs; serve with lemon juice. The taste is quite like chicken; however, although most people find this a good edible species a small minority find that it causes feelings of nausea.

If frozen (uncooked), this fungus retains most of its flavour, and so it is a good species for storing in preparation for the winter months.

Identification Guide

	Caps The wavy-edged young brackets are soft and spongy with broad margins, but as they age the margins become thinner and paler. (Picture: Doug Holland) Individual brackets range in width from 10 to 40cm and vary from 3 to 12cm in thickness. Their colours vary from egg yellow to pale creamy yellow with pink and orange tinged bands. The flesh is yellow-orange when moist, drying out paler.
	Tubes and Pores Underneath the brackets there are tiny round or oval tubes - typically 2 or 3 per mm and 15 to 30mm deep. The pores are white or very pale yellow.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Smells 'mushroomy'; slightly sour taste.
Habitat	On dead or dying hardwood timber, mainly oak, sweet chestnut, beech and yew and occasionally cherry and willow.
Season	Summer and autumn.
Occurrence	Infrequent.
Similar species	Could possibly be confused with pale specimens of the Giant Polypore, Meripilus giganteus, which is distinguished by the fact that its pores turn black when bruised.