#weeping polypore

Weeping brackets belong to a group known as ‘butt rot fungi’ as they attach themselves primarily to large trees at the thickest part, attacking the weakly protected area at the base of a tree’s trunk, just above the root. 

Weeping Polypore or Weeping Conk (Inonotus dryadeus)

weeping polypore (inonotus dryadeus)

I was excited to go on my first autumn mushroom walk and find so many of my favourite inedible mushroom species - including this fantastic polypore bracket fungus, which leaks amber droplets that slowly turn blue as they oxidise. Unfortunately, it’s far too tough and bitter to be edible, which is a shame because the droplets are appealing, in a honey-like way.

Hi! This looks fairly certainly like a young weeping polypore (also known as oak polypore or oak bracket fungus), (Pseudoinonotus dryadeus), named for and easily identified by those amber droplets it ‘weeps’ from its felty pore surface. This is a lovely young specimen!

As I was in the area, and was keen to see a mature specimen, I went back to check on the Weeping polypores that I found earlier in the week. They’ve grown to almost twice their previous size, and are simply stunning.

These ethereal fungi are among the most startling and beautiful common mushrooms, in my opinion. From their irregularly shaped body, they exude a thick, honey-like liquid that turns from amber to blue on contact with air. They can grow huge - up to 50cm in diameter - and can cover the base of broad-leaf trees in bodies, looking like the colony of some alien bee.