Pycnoporellus brilliant: photo and description

Pycnoporellus brilliant (Pycnoporellus fulgens) is a bright representative of the mushroom world. In order not to confuse it with other species, you need to know how it looks, where it grows and how it differs.

Description Pycnoporellus brilliant

Pycnoporellus brilliant is also known under another name – shining tinder fungus. This is a species belonging to the basiomycetes from the Fomitopsis family.

The body of the fungus is a sessile or half-shaped fan-shaped hat, which rarely grows strongly. Its dimensions range from 8 cm in length to 5 cm in width. The leg is pronounced (if any). The edges are lowered, uneven, sometimes torn. The color is dull, yellowish-white, later turning into orange and crimson. The surface is smooth and shiny, sometimes with a velvety coating, closer to the base it is bumpy and rough, with light or almost white cap borders.

The inner layer is fleshy, coarsely porous, sometimes dissected in old specimens. Over time, it is subject to destruction, rotting and insect attack. The pores are filled with a pale gray powder, long, irregularly shaped, often with split or torn edges. Color from beige to pale orange, brightening towards the edges.

A fresh mushroom, when broken, exudes a sharp, rare smell. The center is dense, fibrous, yellowish or creamy. When dried, the flesh becomes brittle and brittle.

Colonies of Pycnoporellus lustrous often infect wood that is already parasitized by other species of organisms.

Vibrant coloration sets the brilliant pycnoporellus apart from the forest greens

Where and how to grow

Pycnoporellus lustrous grows mainly in spruce forests, mixed forests, on fallen trees (pine, spruce, fir), less often on the trunks of dead deciduous trees (aspen, birch, oak). Likes high humidity, shade, parasitizes on dead colonies of other fungi.

In Our Country, pycnoporellus brilliant is common in the Nizhny Novgorod region, appears from the beginning of summer, grows until late autumn. They also find it in the Leningrad region – to the north-west of St. Petersburg, but not very often.

Is the mushroom edible or not?

Pycnoporellus brilliant has a mild taste. Eating data not documented. In medicine, an extract from the body of pycnoporellus brilliant is used to combat pathogenic bacteria of the genus Candida. There is unverified evidence that Pycnoporellus lustrous, when eaten raw, has a weak inhibitory effect on the nervous system and causes hallucinations.

Twins and their differences

Pycnoporellus brilliant is easy to confuse with similar types of mushrooms:

1. The cinnabar red tinder has similar external data: a sessile rounded fruiting body up to 2 cm thick and up to 12 cm in diameter. Young specimens are painted in bright carrot, red, orange shades. With growth and aging, the color changes to ocher or brownish-carrot color. The pulp is corky, the surface on young mushrooms is velvety, on old ones it is rough. It is an annual representative of the mushroom kingdom, but spores can persist for a long time in the ground or wood. Not edible. It differs from Pycnoporellus lustrous in its brighter coloration, pore size, and branched margins.
   
   

   Cinnabar red tinder is a food source for many forest insects.

2. Inonotus radiata. One-year-old mushroom 3-8 cm long and 2 cm wide. Grows in the middle to tree trunks, forms colonies. The fan hat is brownish-red, pale beige, brownish. Edges torn, broken. The surface is wrinkled, nodular, striated, protruding in some places. The pulp is fibrous, cork structure, turns brown when crushed and releases a yellowish liquid. The mushroom is inedible. It differs from brilliant pycnoporellus in color, place and mode of growth (rows or tiers).
   
   

   Inonotus radiata grows freely on rotten or half-dead trunks of alder, linden and even birch.

3. Tirometses kmet. The fruit body is small, sessile, attached throughout the structure, thin. Up to 6 in diameter and up to 1 cm thick. The borders are dense, sometimes ciliated. The color of young specimens is almost white, sometimes milky or creamy, with age it becomes orange or turns brown. The surface is rough, medium pubescent. The pulp is watery, soft. The pores are small and uneven. Grows only on dead hardwood – this is different from pycnoporellus brilliant. Rare, inedible.
   
   

   Tirometses kmeta resembles a slice of lemon or other citrus fruit that has adhered to a tree.

Conclusion

Pycnoporellus brilliant is an amazing representative of its family, but little studied and not suitable for human consumption. It has several twins, differing in the place of growth and some external features.