Red and gray mushroom attached to rotten wood

    Umbrella shaped gray mushroom with a wide red margin, attached to a rotting and damp tree trunk.

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    1. Jim Cornish (6 months ago | reply)

      You have found a Fomitopsis penicola, commonly called the red belted polypore after a red band clearly visible in this image. This band can also be quite narrow or even nonexistant. Fomitopsis means warmth, a reference to how these "woody" polypores make great tinder for starting a fire. Despite its specific name pinicola (meaning dwelling among the pine family of tree (spruce and fir), it can be found on birch as well. The white marginal layer, quite thin here but likely to increase, is the current year's spore bearing layer. These one is a perennial and can be aged by counting the rings- a new layer of pore growth each year.

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