Shaggy Bracket

Shaggy Bracket Inonotus hispidus (Bull.) P. Karst. (illustrated 30% life size) Bracket 6–25cm×4–12cm across, 2–10cm thick, fan-shaped, usually single but occasionally fusing with others into overlapping groups; varying from ochraceous to tobacco-brown, finally blackish; surface felty-hairy, finally bristly. Flesh rusty brown. Tubes 10–30mm long. Pores 2–3 per mm, circular to angular; pale ochraceous at first, later brown and glancing in the light. Spores 9–12×4–10¼, subglobose; rust. Habitat usually on ash but commonly on other trees such as elm, apple and walnut; summer, but persisting in blackened state throughout the year. Frequent. Not edible.