Polyporus badius
Trans. Am. phil. Soc., Ser. 2 4(2): 155. 1832.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Picipes badius (Pers.) Zmitr. & Kovalenko
Synonym?: Royoporus badius (Pers.) A.B. De
For descriptions see Ginns & 'California Mushrooms".'
Solitary to scattered on dead wood of hardwoods and conifers; common, fruiting from fall through spring, widely distributed.
Inedible, tough.
Polyporus badius can be distinguished by its glabrous chestnut-brown to dark brown caps, tiny white pores, a lateral to central stipe that is glabrous, chestnut-brown on the apex, minutely tomentose and black at the base, growth on dead wood, and generative hyphae without clamp connections. Polyporus leptocephalus and Polyporus varius are similar but form buff to tan caps. Polyporus badius was recently transferred to Royoporus (a genus based on the Indonesian species R. spathulatus) because of the absence of clamp connections; but until molecular data in support of this relationship are generated, we recognize our species as Polyporus badius.
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