Introducing tree fungi – pheasant’s back mushroom
Tree fungi introduced by Indrek Sell, forest expert at SA Estonian Fund for Nature
Photo: Merle Poll
Translation: Liis
Pheasant’s back mushroom
We look forward to reader’s photos for the virtual exhibition:
Pheasant's back mushroom or Dryad's back Soomustorik Polyporus squamosus
The upper surface of the pheasant’s back mushroom’s pale brown fruiting bodies is covered with low brown scales; on the underside of the fruiting body are angular shallow pores. Young fruiting bodies have a pleasant fresh smell and as very young pheasant’s back fruiting bodies are edible.
The fruiting body of the mushroom can be recognized by its low, wide pores and the scale pattern of the upper surface.
Pheasant’s back mushroom is common in Estonia in parks and avenues; it occurs rarely in fresh and floodplain forests. The fungus grows on living trunks as well as on tree stumps and dead trees. It is a fungus with a one-year fruiting body; fresh fruiting bodies of the pheasant’s back can be found from the second half of May until October.
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