Polyporus squamosus - Dryad's Saddle

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Polyporales

Polyporus squamosus, commonly referred to as Dryad's Saddle, grows in overlapping clusters and tiers on broad-leaved trees. (A dryad is a mythical wood-nymph.) The fruit bodies appear in summer and autumn. Insects quickly devour these large brackets, and in warm weather they can decay from full splendour to almost nothing in just a few days.

Sycamore, willow, poplar and walnut trees are all commonly attacked by this impressively large and attractive fungus.

Identification Guide

Polyporus squamosus at the base of an Ash tree

The outer edges of young caps are edible and tender, but mature caps have tough flesh - especially near to the stipe.

	Cap Individual caps grow to between 10 and 60cm in diameter and are 5 to 50mm thick. Often in tiers, the caps are attached to the host tree by a very short lateral (occasionally eccentric but not quite lateral) stipe that darkens towards the base. Beneath the yellow to tan upper surface, the cap flesh is white and tough.
	Tubes and Pores Irregularly oval tubes 5 to 10mm deep terminate in irregular, angular pores that are white at first but turn cream as the fruiting body matures. The tubes run decurrently on to the short stem.
Spores	White.
Odour/taste	Floury odour and taste.
Habitat	Parasitic on broad-leaf trees.
Season	Spring to late summer or early autumn.
Occurrence	Common.
Similar species	Piptoporus betulinus, the Razor Strop Fungus or Birch Polypore, is a similar shape when fully mature, but it is brown on top and white underneath; it is specific to birch trees.