Roy Cain's Polypore Key >> Coltricia perennis

A Focus on Species >> Coltricia perennis

Coltricia perennis (L.) Murrill

Coltricia perennis is characterized by its more or less centrally stipitate basidiomata with markedly zonate upper surfaces. The typical habitat is on hard-packed roads and paths in coniferous forests. It does not seem to be associated at all with rotting wood and may be mycorrhizal. The confluence of basidiomata into a single unit, as seen in the photo, is common in C. perennis. Unlike mushrooms, which enlarge by taking up water and "inflating", many polypores grow by producing hyphae at the edges of the basidiomata. When they encounter another object, including another of their own kind, they will grow around it and incorporate it into their own structure.

Photo: D. Malloch