Trametes gibbosa - Lumpy Bracket

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Polyporales

A saprophytic polypore, the Lumpy Bracket is found on most kinds of hardwood trees but most commonly on Beech, forming brackets on standing timber and more often rosettes on the tops of stumps. It causes white rot.

Often the pale upper surface is discoloured by green algae, the more so in the zones further from the margin. That and the slot-like pores (other whitish Trametes species have round or oval pores) makes this a very easy polypore to identify.

Identification Guide

	Description White with leathery flesh; typically 5 to 20cm across and roughly semicircular when growing as brackets; roughkly circular when growing as a fan on the top of a stump. Brackets varygreatly in thickness but are usually between 1 and 6 cm; margins are rounded in young specimens, which are downy on the upper surface, whereas the upper surface loses its down and the margins become more acute as fruitbodies age. The tubes are light grey, 3 to 15mm deep, terminating in irregular, elongated and maze-like pores (pictured left) that are cream at first and turn ochre with age.
Spores	White.
Odour/taste	No distinctive smell or taste.
Habitat	This bracket fungus can be seen on many kinds of broadleaf trees, but most commonly on Beech. It is a saprophyte and causes white rot.
Season	These perennial bracket fungi sporulate in late summer and autumn.
Occurrence	Common.
Similar species	Trametes pubescens, a smaller pale bracket fungus with a velvety or finely hairy upper surface; it usually fruits in overlapping tiers.