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Lingua di Bue
Beefsteak Fungus Fistulina hepatica
Appears in
By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio
Published 1997
Each country names this fungus according to its impression of it, hence its Latin name means liver, its Italian name means ox tongue and its English name beefsteak. Indeed, it is generally known as ‘the poor man’s steak’.
Lingua di bue belongs to the Polypore family, meaning that the underside of the cap is made up of a vast number of pores. Being of the bracket variety of this species, the fungus grows like a shelf on old oak trees and occasionally old chestnut trees. Although the fungus feeds on the tree, in the case of the oak it returns a resinous liquid which turns the wood a reddish colour, making it much sought after by the furniture trade.
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