Polypores

polypores a general name for a group of edible fungi which have tubes rather than gills under their caps, and thus resemble bolete mushrooms, but which differ in normally having a much firmer texture. Some have the capacity to go on producing new tubes; indeed many are perennial. Most of them have fused or multiple caps (instead of the one-cap-on-one-stem arrangement) and grow directly from wood stumps or logs, whose decay they promote until no nutrients are left. As Miller and Miller (1980) remark, none of them contains a serious toxin (although many are inedible); all should be eaten cooked rather than raw; and all are fleshy and firm, and therefore (provided that they are edible at all) suitable for dishes in which bulk is needed.