Southern Bracket

Southern Bracket Ganoderma australe (Fr.) Pat. syn. G. adspersum (Schulz.) Donk (illustrated 25% life size) Bracket 7–60×5–25cm across, 3–30cm thick, margin thick and obtuse; white in the growing season; upper surface with a thick, hard, knobbly, dark brown crust, concentrically ridged. Flesh dark brown; thicker than the tube-layer. Tubes stratified, reddish-brown. Pores 3–4 per mm, circular; white to pale yellow-ochre, discolouring when handled. Spores 8–13×5.5–9¼, mostly about 10×6.5¼, ovate, truncate at one end; brown. Cocoa-like spore deposit is often very dense on the top of cap and the wood above it. Hyphal structure trimitic; generative hyphae with clamp connections, but these are often difficult to demonstrate. Habitat parasitic on deciduous trees, usually on the lower part of the trunks; all year, perennial. Very common. Not edible.