Funky Fungi

Now that we've had some cold nights, most seasonal mushrooms have disappeared. Only a few very small mushrooms can still be found in warm pockets throughout the city. Most of the mushrooms now seen are the woody conks, the fruiting bodies of Polypores.

Polypores are a group of fungi often known as bracket fungi or shelf fungi, due to the shape of their fruiting bodies. Unlike agaric mushrooms these mushrooms form fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. Some species form seasonal fruiting bodies, many however produce hard and woody conks that increase in size each year. As with all fungi most of the life form goes unseen.

Most polypores live on decaying wood and can be found on tree trunks and branches. Some live in the soil as mycorrhiza (where they form a codependent partnership with trees and shrubs). Some polypores grow on living trees, most do the tree no harm as they feed on the core wood of the trunk, but some can ruin large trees (for instance The Artist's Bracket).