A small, tough gilled mushroom with dark brown scales on a pale cap. It grows on hardwood in river floodplains. DNA places it in the Polyporaceae despite its gills. A North American form has malformed gills covered by veil-like tissue, and mating studies show that it interbreeds with the normal form.
Classified as nonpoisonous and eaten young in some regions; it has been domesticated as a wild edible in the Philippines. The flesh is tough. Confirm the floodplain habitat, scaly cap and white spore print before eating.
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Habitat
Saprobic on dead hardwood, especially willow, cottonwood and silver maple, on wood regularly wetted by floods along streams and rivers. Alone or in loose clusters, spring through fall, or over winter in warm climates.
Distribution
Widespread in Europe. In North America from the Great Plains eastward and in the Southwest. Also reported from the Caribbean, Central and South America and Asia. North American populations are genetically distinct from Eurasian and Australian ones but can interbreed with them.
Characteristics
Cap: 1-6 cm, convex with a navel-like central depression, dry, whitish to tan with small dark brown scales. Gills: decurrent to broadly attached, crowded, white to cream; malformed and veil-covered in the gasteroid form. Stem: 2-4 cm long, 2-9 mm thick, whitish above and brownish below, with fine brown scales and a faint ring zone when young. Flesh: whitish, tough, unchanging. Spore print: white. Spores: 5-8 x 2-4 um, ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid.
