Alder Bracket

Alder Bracket Inonotus radiatus (Sowerby) P. Karst. (illustrated 40% life size) Bracket 2–9cm×1–6cm across, 1–2cm thick, margin thin and acute, in tiers; apricot at first then rusty, finally almost black, margin paler; woody, upper surface becoming glabrous, uneven, and radially wrinkled. Flesh rusty brown; woody; taste bitter, smell faint and sweet. Tubes 3–8mm long, rusty brown. Pores 3–4 per mm, circular or angular; glancing silvery in the light. Spores 4.5–6×3–4.5¼, elliptical; yellowish. Hyphal structure monomitic; generative hyphae without clamp connections. Setae in tubes fusiform with curved, pointed apex, thick-walled, dark brown. Habitat parasitic on alder and occasionally certain other deciduous trees; all year, annual but often persisting in old, blackened state throughout the year. Common. Not edible.