100 More Species #59: Gloeophyllum sepiarium

[urbpan]

Gloeophyllum sepiarium growing from the picnic table in my yard. I should know better than to proclaim this species, since I misidentified it once already in a previous post. That's why this is number 59, not number 99. In any case, I'm quite confident of the Genus, and if anyone would like to tell me why it's not this species I promise not to scream.

Gloeophyllum is one of at least three polypore mushrooms which has changed its pores to be gill-like in structure, which must be a very effective strategy for packing lots of spores in a small space. It is also a fungus that likes to eat the wood of conifers, like my pine picnic tables, or these park benches at the zoo.


The underside (spore producing) surface of these mushrooms.