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Shell-shaped fellinus (Phellinus conchatus) is a parasitic fungus growing on trees belonging to the Hymenochetes family and the genus Trutoviki. It was first described by Christian Person in 1796, and correctly classified by Lucien Kelet at the end of the XNUMXth century. Other scientific names:
- shell-shaped boletus;
- polyporus conchoidal;
- phellinopsis conchata.
The fungus can settle at the very roots or climb up the trunk
What does shellfish look like?
Mushrooms are devoid of legs, with a hard hat, they firmly adhere to the bark on the sides. Barely appeared fruiting bodies look like tiny round growths of brown-red or beige color. They begin to grow, uniting into a single organism with a continuous hymenophore and sinuously wavy fused or separate caps. The surface is rough, covered with coarse bristles in youth, bare in old specimens. Radial stripes-bumps are clearly visible, often cracks go from the edge. The color is striped, from grayish-ocher to black-brown. The edges are sharp, very thin, wavy, light beige, grayish or reddish brown.
The shell tinder fungus has a tubular hymenophore structure with rounded small pores. The spongy layer descends over the surface of the substrate, forming open uneven spots-growths. The color can vary from gray-beige to milk chocolate, reddish, sandy brown and dark brown, yellow-purple or dirty gray in old specimens. The flesh is cork-like, woody, brown, reddish-brick or brownish in color.
The size of the caps can reach from 6 to 12 cm in width, the thickness at the base is from 1 to 5 cm, and the area occupied by the overgrown tubular layer can cover the entire trunk of the carrier tree and spread down and to the sides at a distance of up to 0,6 m. Merged hats sometimes have a length of 40-50 cm.
Spongy spore-bearing layer descends down the trunk
Where does phellinus conchoidalis grow?
Widely distributed throughout the globe. It is found on the American continent, in Asia and Europe, in the British Isles. In Our Country, it grows everywhere, especially abundantly in the northern regions, in the Urals, in Karelia and in the Siberian taiga. Grows on dead wood and live trees of mainly deciduous species: birch, ash, hawthorn, mountain ash, lilac, poplar, maple, honeysuckle, acacia, aspen, alder, beech. He especially likes goat willow. Sometimes it can also be found on fallen trees or stumps.
Striking a tree, individual small fruiting bodies grow rapidly, occupying new sections of the trunk. They grow in large, closely planted groups, forming roof-like and tiered outgrowths. They can spread both in height, climbing to the thinnest branches, and in width, covering the tree with a kind of “collar”.
The outgrowths that form the shell-shaped fellinus look very impressive.
Is it possible to eat fellinus shellfish
This type of tinder fungus is classified as an inedible mushroom due to its woody pulp with low nutritional value. No toxic or poisonous substances were found in its composition.
The fungus often coexists with tree mosses, which frame the fruiting bodies with a fancy fringe.
Conclusion
Phellinus shelliform is a parasitic tree fungus that infects living deciduous trees. Causes dangerous diseases, often leading to the death of plants. It settles in cracks, chips, on damaged and exfoliated areas of the bark. Prefers soft willow wood. Found everywhere in temperate and northern climates, it is a cosmopolitan mushroom. Inedible, contains no toxic substances. In Latvia, the Netherlands and France, shellfish is listed as an endangered fungus.
