Pycnoporellus alboluteus
Ceska Mycol. 17: 174. 1963.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Phaeolus albotueus (Ellis & Everh.) Pilát
Fruiting body annual, sessile, effused-reflexed, shelving, up to 15.0 cm in length, up to 3.0 cm in width; upper surface very thin, pale tawny-buff to apricot orange, covered with appressed hairs, reddening in KOH; odor pleasant, slightly fragrant; taste untried.
Pores 1-2 mm in diameter, round, elongate, to angular, the mouths becoming torn, often tooth-like in age; tube layer up to 7.0 cm thick, the surface apricot orange, reddening in KOH.
Spores 9-13 x 3.0-4.0 µm, narrowly oblong-cylindrical in face-view, slightly allantoid in profile, smooth, thin-walled, hilar appendage conspicuous, inamyloid; spore deposit not seen.
Mostly solitary on logs of montane conifers; fruiting in the spring after snow-melt; dried fruiting bodies persisting into mid-summer; occasional.
Inedible.
Pycnoporellus alboluteus is a distinctive and conspicuous snowbank species recognized by a buff-orange, fruiting body and pores that become tooth-like in age. It shares its preference for conifer wood near melting snowbanks with another often abundant polypore, Postia leucospongia. The latter is distinctive with a whitish, cottony upper surface that partially encloses the pore layer.
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