Dyer’s Mazegill

Phaeolus schweinitzii

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Appears in
Mushrooms

By Roger Phillips

Published 2006

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Dyer’s Mazegill Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. syn. Polyporus schweinitzii Fr. (illustrated 35% life size) Fruit body sometimes forming amorphous cushions, more often subcircular, 10–30cm across, concave; dark sulphur-yellow, becoming rusty or dark brown, finally blackish with age; soft and spongy when fresh, drying fragile and light, concentrically grooved at first, rough, hairy. Stem very short, thick, merging into cap; brown; covered in tubes. Flesh rusty brown; fibrous. Tubes 3–6mm long, decurrent; concolorous with upper surface. Pores 0.3–2.5mm across, circular, angular, or irregular; yellow, olivaceous, or tinged rust, finally maroon-brown; often glistening in the light. Spores 5.5–7.5×3.5–4¼, ovate to elliptical; whitish, tinged yellowish. Hyphal structure monomitic; generative hyphae without clamps. Habitat parasitic on conifers, usually arising from the roots; autumn. Common. Not edible.