Bitter Bracket

Bitter Bracket Postia stiptica (Pers.) Jülich syn. Oligoporus stipticus (Pers.) Gilb. & Ryvarden syn. Tyromyces stipticus (Pers.) Kotl. & Pouzar (illustrated 55% life size) Bracket 1–8cm×1–6.5cm across, 0.5–3.5cm thick, semicircular or kidney-shaped, single or in small overlapping groups; milk-white, causing a brown rot; upper surface uneven. Flesh taste bitter and stinging. Tubes 0.3–0.7mm long; white, exuding whitish droplets in humid weather, which dry cream. Pores 1–5mm across, circular becoming more elongate; white to cream. Spores 3.5–4.5×1.5–2.5¼, oblong-elliptical; white. Hyphal structure monomitic; generative hyphae with clamp connections. Habitat usually on dead conifers, less frequently on living trees; all year. Common. Not edible.