A stemless, shelf-like gilled mushroom that grows on dead hardwood, with a velvety brown cap and saw-toothed gill edges. Its very acrid taste and amyloid tissue separate it from oyster mushrooms and from similar Lentinellus species. It belongs to the Russulales, the order that also contains Russula and Lactarius.
Inedible because of its strongly acrid or bitter taste.
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Habitat
Saprobic on dead hardwood logs and stumps, in groups or overlapping shelves. Summer and fall in most of North America, October to March on the West Coast. The form robustus usually grows on conifer wood.
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Widespread in North America and Europe, and present in eastern Asia. Originally described from Sweden.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-12 cm, fan- to kidney-shaped or semicircular, finely to densely velvety, especially near the point of attachment, brown near the base and paler toward the margin. Gills: close, radiating, whitish to pale brownish, with saw-toothed edges. Stem: absent; attached laterally to wood. Flesh: thin, tough, whitish, with a thin dark line under the cap surface (best seen on dried specimens). Taste: usually strongly acrid or peppery. Spore print: white. Spores: 3-4 x 2-3 um, ellipsoid, finely spiny, amyloid.
