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| Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, on felled Oak. The Knoll, Hayes, on 26 September 2014. |
These are a few tree fungi I found in a small local park. The first one is edible, hence its common name Chicken of the Woods. Here, it is on a felled oak, but it grows just as easily on living trees. It's really quite a sight close up:
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| Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, on felled Oak. The Knoll, Hayes, on 26 September 2014. |
I have never eaten it, but those who do say it needs to be young and fresh or it gets pretty tough. Also, it will grow on trees other than oak, and from some - such as Yew - it might be poisonous. Don't eat
anything based on comments in this blog!
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| Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica, on Oak. The Knoll, Hayes, 26 September 2014. |
This looks not at all appetising, but is also supposed to be edible. I cut a slice across it to show the interior. It is quite soft and spongy, and will grow and die within a few weeks. This is on a living Oak tree.
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| Ganoderma species on Horse Chestnut. The Knoll, Hayes, 26 September 2014. |
This one is more commonly seen as a bunch of big showy brackets on Beech trees. It doesn't seem quite so much at home on this Horse-chestnut, but even so, it keeps coming back every year, getting a bit bigger each time, with brackets all the way up the trunk right from the base.
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| Ganoderma species on Horse Chestnut. The Knoll, Hayes, 26 September 2014. |
Here's a single bracket. This year's growth is white, and is full of pores from which the brown spores fall. This is definitely not edible, and in fact is so tough that you need a big, really sharp knife or a saw to take a sample.
Hi Bill,
ReplyDeleteI live locally, and both Husseywell and the Knoll are my local parks, in which I walk my dog and often forage. The tree in question infected with the Chicken Of The Woods, is not an Oak, but more likely either Lime, Elm or a Willow. It used to stand tall over the large pond, but was felled about a decade ago, so I can't remember the leaves on it. It is my go-to log in the park and I have eaten the Chicken Of The Woods from it before (I probably did the year you made this post!).
There was another large Beech tree nearby that was seriously infected with Giant Polypore (Meripilus giganteus), a relative of COTW. The trunk became hollowed out as a result of the decay and the whole tree was downed in a storm in December 2013. Directly opposite this is a Horse Chestnut tree infected with Dryad's Saddle bracket fungus. This too has weakened this tree, and it will no doubt soon fall down or be felled, if it hasn't already.
Nice pictures and observations.
Alex