Chestnut Polypore (Picipes badius)
Index Fungorum Picipes badius (Pers.) Zmitr. & Kovalenko
MycoBank Picipes badius (Pers.) Zmitr. & Kovalenko
Polyporus badius
Badius, a, um. chestnut-colored, bay (of horses).
Grifola badia (Pers.) Gray, A natural arrangement of British plants 1: 644 (1821)
Polyporus durus (Timm) Kreisel, Boletus 8: 30 (1984)
Boletus badius Pers., Synopsis methodica fungorum: 523 (1801)
Boletus batschii J.F. Gmel., Systema Naturae 2 (2): 1435 (1792)
Boletus durus Timm, Flora megapolitanae Prodomus exhibeus plantas ductatus Megapolitano: 271 (1788)
Polyporellus badius (Pers.) Imazeki, Colored Illustrations of Mushrooms of Japan 2: 136 (1989)
Royoporus badius (Pers.) A.B. De, Mycotaxon 65: 471 (1997)
Usually large, reaching up to 25 cm in diameter under favorable conditions (typically 5–15 cm), irregularly funnel-shaped, as if composed of several fused "lobes"; margins wavy. Color ranges from rich brown to nearly black, darker in the center than at the edges (the margins may even be light, beige); surface smooth to glossy.
Hymenophore tubular, decurrent onto the stipe. Tubes white or pale ochre, darker than the flesh, 1–2 mm long, usually somewhat more decurrent on one side of the stipe. Pores round to angular, 5–7(8) per 1 mm, i.e., very small, with thin margins that become fringed-toothed with age.
Relatively short and thick (2–4 cm high, 0.5–1.5 cm thick), partly or completely eccentric, black or brown, with a velvety surface.
Thin, very elastic, difficult to tear, later becoming corky, hard, and brittle. Tasteless.
Pleasant, mushroom-like.
Spore print white. Spores elongate-ellipsoid, nearly cylindrical, often somewhat fusiform, with granular contents.
Xylotroph causing white rot of wood. Develops on large fallen logs of deciduous trees, at the base of dead standing trunks, on stumps, and on wood buried in soil. Recorded on aspen, linden, elm, black alder, and birch. Fruiting bodies are annual. Picipes badius has been recorded in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
Status 5 — recovering species.
Picipes badius is a distinctive fungus, notable for its large size and radially brown cap. Therefore, it is difficult to find similar species.
There are no inedible or poisonous look-alikes.
In English-language literature, it is reported that potent immunomodulating compounds have been obtained from the Chestnut Polypore. Furthermore, the use of Picipes badius for producing composite materials—an ecological alternative to plastic—appears promising. Yes, of course, this would involve artificially cultivated strains, not wild-harvested specimens.
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