Mushrooms List |
Bracket [fungi] Family [Coriolaceae] |
Photo: © Ian Lester |
A bracket fungus which grows on the sides of standing trees, often high up, but in this instance at just 2 feet high. |
Photo: © Ian Lester |
Growing in overlapping brackets which are flattish but thick. The same colour as cooked chicken at the ends, with a similar texture, but often a darker orange or brown on top. |
Photo: © Ian Lester |
The upper surface is suede-like and velvety, bright-yellow but becoming more orange with age. The margin is zoned and has an irregular semi-circular, undulating and lumpy surface and a somewhat in-curved margin. The texture is similar to cooked chicken. It becomes crumbly and inedible with age. |
Almost indistinguishable from Giant Polypore (Melipils giganteus (when that is young) this turns brown very quickly when injured unlike Chicken-of-the-Woods and older specimens of Giant Polypore which have a brown top. Although Giant Polypore is edible, it is less sought after than Chicken-of-the-Woods because of its bruising-to-brown characteristic.
Related to : Hen-of-the-Woods [a plant with similar name which also belongs to the same Coriolaceae Family, but is in a different Genus]. However, Chicken-of-the-Woods grows like a bracket on the side of deciduous trees (mainly It is edible when young, but like all polypores, of which it is one, it becomes tough and inedible when old. It has been known to cause allergic reactions. As well as having the same colour of cooked chicken, it has the texture as chicken meat and has been eaten as a substitute for chicken by vegetarians. The underside has small circular or oval pores which sometimes drip water. It is widespread throughout the UK and common.
Chicken-of-the-Woods is edible, but should never be eaten raw, only cooked. It can give some people an upset stomach or lead to dizziness because of the above phenylethylamine alkaloids that it contains.
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Laetiporus | sulphureus | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Coriolaceae |
Laetiporus (brackets) |
Bracket [fungi] Family [Coriolaceae] |