Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fries) Pat.
Ess. Taxon. Hym., p. 86. 1900.

Photo: Young sporocarps

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Fruiting body annual, typically stipitate on the ground from roots of trees; usually compound, composed of several circular to irregularly lobed caps up to 25 cm broad; flesh soft when fresh, tough in age; surface densely hairy, smoother in age; color variable, cream to ochraceous, to yellow or green-yellow when fresh, rusty-brown to dark brown in age; staining brown to black; flesh yellowish-brown, becoming dark rusty brown in age.

• Hymenophore

  Tube layer decurrent, greenish to rusty brown, up to 1.5 cm thick.

• Spores

  Spores 7-8 x 20-25 µm, ellipsoid to ovoid, hyaline, smooth.

• Habitat

  Solitary to gregarious near conifers, especially pine and Douglas fir; lignicolous, but usually appearing terrestrial; fruiting in the fall, but persisting throughout the season.

• Edibility

  Possibly poisonous.

• Comments

  Phaeolus schweinitzii causes a brown cubical rot of the heartwood of butt and roots of living conifers. Although abhorred by foresters, it is highly esteemed by dye-makers for coloring yarn.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Phaeolus schweinitzii (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Phaeolus schweinitzii (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Phaeolus schweinitzii (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Phaeolus schweinitzii (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 570 (D), p. 571 (P), plate 153 (CP)
  • Arora (1991): p. 188 (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 2): sp. 403 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 110 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 473 (D), plate 480 (CP)
  • Miller: p. 328 (D) [Polyporus schweinitzii]
  • Phillips: p. 260 (D), p. 261 (CP)

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)