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