Daedaleopsis confragosa

Common Name: Thin-Maze Polypore

Synonyms: Daedalea confragosa; Trametes rubescens

Substrate: Oak Logs

Location: Anywhere downed trees are

Spore Color: White

Pore Color: White

Comments: 

This mushroom is not much to look at until you flip it over. The top has your standard shades of brown, but the underside has a pore surface where the pores tend to come together forming a maze-like pattern. You should be able to bend this mushrooms without snapping it.

The pore surface should stain reddish-pink when the specimen is fresh.

Lookalikes:  

This mushroom is called the Thin Maze Polypore because it has a sister species, Daedalea quercina, that is much less flexible. The thicker variety also does not stain. Another mushroom may also appear similar, Lenzites belutina - Gilled Polypore - but as the name suggests, the pores on the undersurface form a gill-like surface rather than a maze. Gloeophyllum separium can also develop a gill-like "pore" surface, but the mushroom is orange to dark red.

Pictures:

10/29/11 - Griffy Reservoir - Bloomington, IN