Cerioporus soft (Cerioporus mollis)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Incertae sedis (of uncertain position)
- Order: Polyporales (Polypore)
- Family: Polyporaceae (Polyporaceae)
- Genus: Cerioporus (Cerioporus)
- Type: Cerioporus mollis (Cerioporus soft)
:
- Daedalus soft
- Soft trains
- Soft octopus
- Antrodia soft
- Daedaleopsis mollis
- Datronia soft
- Cerrena soft
- Boletus substrigosus
- Polyporus mollis var. the undercoat
- Daedalus soft
- Snake tracks
- Polyporus sommerfeltii
- Daedalea lassbergii
Fruiting bodies are annuals, most often completely prostrate or with a recurved edge, irregular in shape and variable in size, sometimes reaching a meter in length. The bent edge can be up to 15 cm long and 0.5-5 cm wide. Regardless of size, fruiting bodies are easily separated from the substrate.
The upper surface is dull, beige-brown, yellowish-brown, brown, darkening with age to black-brown, from velvety to coarse felt and glabrous, rough, with concentric textured grooves and fuzzy lighter and darker stripes (often with a light edge) , sometimes can be overgrown with epiphytic green algae.
The surface of the hymenophore is uneven, bumpy, whitish or creamy in young fruiting bodies, sometimes with a pinkish-flesh tint, becoming beige-gray or brownish-gray with age, with a whitish coating that is easily erased when touched and, apparently, is gradually washed away by rain , because in old fruiting bodies it is yellowish-brown. The edge is sterile.
Hymenophore consists of tubules 0.5 to 5 mm long. The pores are not equal in size, on average 1-2 per mm, thick-walled, not very regular in shape, often somewhat angular or slit-like, and this irregularity is emphasized by the fact that when growing on vertical and inclined substrates, the tubules are beveled and therefore practically open.
spore powder white. Spores are cylindrical, not quite regular in shape, slightly oblique and concave on one side, 8-10.5 x 2.5-4 µm.
The tissue is thin, at first soft leathery and yellowish-brown, with a dark line. With age, it darkens and becomes hard and hard. According to some sources, it has an apricot aroma.
Widespread species of the northern temperate zone, but rare. Grows on stumps, fallen trees and drying deciduous trees, almost never occurs on conifers. Causes white rot. The period of active growth is from late summer to late autumn. Old dried fruit bodies are well preserved until the next year (and maybe even longer), so you can see soft cerioporus (and in a completely recognizable form) throughout the year.
Mushroom inedible.
Photo: Andrey, Maria.