Lenzites betulina (Fries) Fries
Epicr. p. 405. 1838.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body annual or short-lived perennial, 2-10 cm broad, 0.5-2.0 cm thick, at first resupinate, then forming sessile, fan-shaped, tiered brackets or occasionally rosettes emanating from a common base; surface tomentose, concentrically-zoned, often multi-colored, cream, pale-buff, dingy yellow-brown, or greyish-brown, in age sometimes green from encrusted algae; flesh thin, pliant, becoming tough, cork-like, white, unchanging; odor and taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills white, radiating from attachment point, broad, tough, cream-colored.

• Spores

  Spores 4-6 x 1.5-2.0 µm, smooth, cylindrical to elongate bean-shaped, nonamyloid; spore print white.

• Habitat

  Scattered to clustered in overlapping shelves on hardwood logs, but not limited to birch as the the species name would suggest; fruiting from early to late winter.

• Edibility

  Inedible; too tough for the table.

• Comments

  Lenzites betulina would be just another polypore, except that the the spore-bearing surface is gill-like, not poroid. Despite this apparent similarity to fleshy, gilled, mushrooms, Lenzites betulina is a polypore with the characteristic leathery toughness one would expect of a member of this group. Another polypore, Trametes versicolor has a remarkably similar, zonate, tomentose, upper surface, but is easily distinguished by a poroid hymenium. Less common than Lenzites betulina is Gloeophyllum saepiarium, which also has a gill-like hymenium, but is rusty-brown in color, and grows on conifers as opposed to hardwoods.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Brother Alfred Brousseau: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Lenzites betulina (CP)
  • MushroomExpert.com: Lenzites betulina (D & CP)
  • Fungi Growing on Wood: Lenzites betulina (D & CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 589 (D & P)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 352 (D, I, & CP)
  • Gilbertson & Ryvarden (1986): p. 425 (D), p. 426 (I)
  • Jordan: p. 100 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 469 (D), plate 535
  • Phillips: p. 268 (CP), p. 269 (D)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)