Bjerkandera adusta

(Willd.) P. Karst.

Overlapping brackets on a bark-less section on a fallen poplar in Pitsea, Essex.
Ochreous-brown brackets with blackened centres on horse chestnut in Brentwood, Essex
Cluster of brackets within a compression fork on hornbeam in Pishiobury Park, Hertfordshire
The greyish underside of the bracket taken from English oak in Fryerns, Essex
A whitish-grey to brown upper surface taken from crack willow in Laindon, Essex

Overlapping brackets on a bark-less section on a fallen poplar in Pitsea, Essex.
Ochreous-brown brackets with blackened centres on horse chestnut in Brentwood, Essex
Cluster of brackets within a compression fork on hornbeam in Pishiobury Park, Hertfordshire
The greyish underside of the bracket taken from English oak in Fryerns, Essex
A whitish-grey to brown upper surface taken from crack willow in Laindon, Essex
A mature tiered clister of fruit bodies on a field maple stimp in Basildon, UK.
Bracket-shaped fruit bodies on hornbeam in Sawbridgeworth, UK.
Senescent fruit bodies on silver maple in Essex, UK.
The grey smoky pore surface of mature fruit bodies on oak in Fryerns, UK.
Developing and mature fruit boies on wood in Essex, UK.

Common name

Smoky polypore.

Often found on

Deciduous broadleaved species.

Sometimes found on

conifers.

Location

Found along the main stem and larger branching structure of the standing tree – persists on stumps and fallen tree parts.

Description

Annual . Somewhat tough. Usually abundant. Begins as a grey pore surface with a whitish rim before developing into brackets that are zoned with browns and greys on the upper surface. Can remain resupinate on undersides of the substrate. White spore. Individually thin.

Confused with

Bjerkandera fumosa (slotted pores, much thicker, less frequent); Trametes versicolor (white pore surface).

Significance

Attributed to a selective white rot of the wood. Considered saprotrophic – potentially weakly parasitic . Generally enters during earlier stages of wood dysfunction and decay. Presence on the stems and limbs / branches of standing trees signals vascular dysfunction and decay. Often associated with (local) decline on standing trees. When found on stems, further investigations may be necessary.