Polyporus brumalis    (Pers.) Fr. 

common name(s) : Winter Polypore 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Incertae sedis/Polyporales/Polyporaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Aphyllophoromycetideae  

synonyms: Leucoporus brumalis 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Lentinus brumalis, Boletus brumalis, Polyporus fuscidulus, Polyporus subarcularius, Polystictus substriatus)  

edibility : inedible

potential confusions with  Polyporus brumalis toxicity of Polyporus brumalis genus Polyporus  

The cap is ochre brown to dark brown, or with reddish shades, tough or rubbery, of circular shape, flat or depressed. The cap surface is matt to downy-felty. The cap margin is wavy when old.

The stem is full, central, more or less equal, smooth or covered with small scales. Its colour is identical to the cap's colour : ochre-brown to red-brown, typically darker towards the base. It is covered with a thin white to yellow (hardly visible) network near the top, greenish towards the base and turning brown with age..

The flesh is white, elastic or tough; its taste is not distinctive;

The tubes are whitish to cream, slightly to non decurrent, short (2 to 4mm).

The pores are small (2 to 3 per mm), white to ochre, round or angular. The spore print is white.

It grows in broad-leaved woods, on stumps or dead branches (rare on conifers). It is found more often in hills or in the mountains, in winter, on beech, oak, or various broad-leaved trees.

The fruiting period takes place from January to March.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 6 cm (between 1.5 and 12 cm)
  height of stem approximately 5 cm (between 1 and 7 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 5 mm (between 2 and 10 mm)
  spores : 5-7 x 2-2,5 microns, cylindrical to incurved

Distinctive features : tough flesh; medium size pores; winter species; single-coloured stem; non hairy cap

Polyporus brumalis is quite rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is frequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Polyporus brumalis in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Polyporus brumalis in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18