Umbrella Polypore Polyporus umbellatus (Pers.) Fr. syn. Grifola umbellata (Pers.) Pilát Fruit body up to 50cm across, consisting of a thick, fleshy base from which repeated branching occurs, the ultimate branchlets ending in small, umbrella-like caps, each 1–4cm across and centrally depressed with a thin, wavy margin; caps initially grey-brown, becoming ochraceous with age, covered in fibrils or small fibrous scales. Stem thin, merging at the bottom into common, trunk-like base; flushed with cap colour. Flesh white; thin in cap, taste pleasant but with acrid aftertaste, smell pleasant when fresh. Tubes 1–1.5mm long, decurrent; straw-yellow. Pores 1 per mm, angular; whitish to straw-yellow. Spores 7–10×3–4¼, cylindrical-elliptical. Habitat on the ground, arising from a subterranean sclerotium associated with roots of deciduous trees, especially oak; summer to autumn. Rare on Red Data List. Edible.
