Last week we talked about the Destroying Angel, a deadly toxic mushroom with a non-threatening, unremarkable look.

Laetiporus sulphureus, aka the chicken of the woods, could not be more different. It grows on dead or sickly trees, often right at eye height in giant collections of mushroom caps. But of course the mushroom's most obvious trait is its absurd coloring - the same neon orange color as a warning sign or a safety vest. Whatever else L.sulphureus is, no one can call it subtle.

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When you see a Laetiporus species in the woods, often even from long distances away, you will know almost immediately. No other mushroom looks quite like a Laetiporus, and few mushrooms attract the eye so readily. After all, how often do you see that neon orange color in a forest?

However, although Laetiporus is an exceedingly easy genus to identify, figuring out the specific species without genetic testing can actually be fairly difficult.

To illustrate how hard it can be, compare L.sulphureus with the genetically different species L.cincinnatus

First, look at the two pictures above. Those pictures are both L.sulphureus, which eats the heart wood of dead or sick trees and eventually turns the wood into a dark brown dust. As a result, this species tends to grow higher up on the trunks of trees, usually oaks, primarily in the North Eastern US. It has a pore based spore surface which is yellowish in color.

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This photo is not L.sulphureus but L.cincinnatus, which looks almost identical, but feeds on the root system of the tree and therefore will grow at or near the ground. It also has a pore based spore surface, but it's pores are whitish instead of yellowish.

Compare those two pictures and see if you can tell the difference. Probably not - and things get more complicated when you add in at least three other genetically distinct Laetiporus species in the US alone. In fact, it was only in 2001, with the advent of genetic testing, that even the most informed mycologists in the world first discovered so many Laetiporus species even existed.

Luckily, identifying the specific species isn't life or death, as there are no known reports of a deadly poisonous Laetiporus species, although some people can have serious negative reactions to ingesting them, and some species are more dangerous than others.

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Although we do not recommend eating your mushroom finds, those so inclined harvest L.sulphureus when it is young and plump. The picture above is very young at the top, but getting a bit old on the bottom. The ideal specimen is so young and plump that it almost isn't even orange yet and when the young mushroom is cut at this age it allegedly spurts a clear water out, which is supposed to be a sign of a great specimen. This is when the mushroom is most tender and juicy. If you wait until the mushroom is too mature, it becomes fibrous and hard to digest.

Even though there appears to be no deadly poisonous Laetiporus species, that does not mean they are universally safe to eat. First, as with any mushroom, individual allergic reactions can occur, and like any food allergy, the results can be dangerous.

Second, there are reports of gastrointestinal distress from eating overly mature specimens, and more serious symptoms like dizziness and vomiting which could be attributable to the mushrooms sucking up local environmental toxins.

Third is the possibility that Laetiporus species growing on specific tree species may cause more problems than others. Specifically Eucalyptus, Yew and Cedar trees may be implicated in more serious gastrointestinal ailments.

Finally, some species, like L.huroniensis, have apparently made some folks fairly ill, although not killed them. L.huroniensis looks almost identical to L.sulphureus, but grows on conifers.

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The nickname "chicken of the woods" refers to the mushroom's edibility, large volume and the belief of many that it takes sort of like chicken - or at least functions as a good vegan replacement for chicken.

For me, encountering a Laetiporus species is less a culinary windfall than a delightful act of discovery. You won't soon forget your first encounter and you may find yourself puzzling over exactly which species you had the pleasure of finding.

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Macroscopic Features:

• Cap = Knobby at first and yellow - maturing into a flat bright orange shelf with light/yellow edges, growing out the side of trees above the roots, off the ground, or on a portion of a fallen tree which would have been off the ground before it fell. 2 to 23inches (5 to 60cm) in diameter. Usually multiple caps growing in sometime very large shelf forms. Smooth surface at first, to thin wrinkles when mature. Color fades when old.

• Spore surface = yellow pores.

• Flesh = When young/fresh very tender and lets out a clear or yellowish juice when cut. Strong fungus odor. When older dries out, becomes brittle and fibrous, taste may become sour.

• Stem ("stipe") = None

• Spore Print = White

• Ecology ("How it grows.") = Parasitic and Saprobic. Parasitic means it acts like a parasite and leeches resources from another organism, in this case dying or sick oak trees. Saprobic means the mushroom is also capable of surviving on dead tissue - in this case dead oak trees. In either case, this L.sulphureus eats the heart wood of the tree, turning it the wood a brown rot in the process.

• Distribution = Genetically, in Europe and North Eastern US. Several lookalike species can primarily be differentiated by genetics - but L.huroniensis grows in the Great Lakes region and potentially on conifers - and L.cincinnatus grows and feeds only on the root system of trees. A lookalike also exists on the west coast of the US, but is not genetically the same species.

• Edibility = Generally considered a quality edible when young - both delicious and easy to identify. The reality is not quite as simple, with at least one species, L.huroniensis, being significantly poisonous to about 10% of people. Additionally, L. sulphureus on Cedar, Yew and Eucalyptus may also cause gastrointestinal upset, as can overly mature specimens.

• Other Traits = A young specimen will exude a clear or yellowish water in some quantity when cut. This is supposed to be an excellent sign of the quality of the specimen for culinary purposes.

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Have a Mushroom you want help identifying? - leave a message on the Steemit Mycology discord channel.

https://discord.gg/JJgEW2y

For The Online Mycokey program look Here

For A Crash Course On How To Identify A Mushroom Read The Amatuer Mycologist #3

For a Glossary Of Relevant Mycological Terms, Micheal Kuo's Website Provides

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Information Sources:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/laetiporus_sulphureus.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus_sulphureus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus_huroniensis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus
http://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/2006/10/31/eating-the-chicken-of-the-woods/

Photo Sources:
[1]By voir ci-dessous / see below (Self-photographed)
[2]By Gargoyle888. (Own work.)
[3]By Dan Molter (shroomydan) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
[4][By Rror (Own work)CC BY-SA 3.0
[5]By voir ci-dessous / see below (Self-photographed)CC BY-SA 3.0