Polyporus squamosus?

[NickWood]

Standing about 12cm high, this odd antler-shaped fungus was discovered beside a pile of old logs in deciduous woodland. The second image shows the cap, but where are the spores? The third image is of a fungus a few metres away, and this seems to be the more typical appearance of Dryad’s Saddle (Polyporus squamosus). So is this P. squamosus?

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi,

I’d say these are all P.squamosus. It often starts off looking similar to your first two shots, with what look like small compact caps on long (in comparison) stems. – Then the caps begin to expand and you get the normal P.squamosus sort of shape.

The only other species it might be is P.tuberaster, but to me, it doesn’t look quite right for that one.

Overall size would be a good macro characteristic for comparison, if you are able to revisit after several days – P.squamosus gets quite a bit bigger than P.tuberaster.

Regards,

Mike.

[NickWood]

Thanks, Mike. This the same fungus three days later – P.squamosus

All the best… Nick

[adampembs]

Love the way you took this photo of the exact same specimens from the same angle!

[Chris Yeates]

NickWood wrote:

Thanks, Mike. This the same fungus three days later – P.squamosus

All the best… Nick

A very useful example of how quickly some fungi can grow/expand (not always the same thing) in a short time span

Good work

Chris

[Author]

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