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Species Information
Summary: The fruitbodies of Inonotus cuticularis are semicircular and flattened, growing on hardwoods without a stem, the upper surface at first yellowish brown and tomentose or radially fibrillose, the pore surface pale brown, and the flesh bright yellowish brown to reddish brown. Microscopically there are branched setae on cap surface, and there are setae also on the spore-bearing surface but not projecting. The description is derived from Gilbertson(1).
Inonotus cuticularis has been found in BC, WA, MB, NS, ON, PQ, AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WI, and WV, (Gilbertson). In BC it is known from one collection on Quercus garryana (Ginns(28)).
Cap: up to 5cm x 11cm x 1.5cm, growing without a stem on wood, single or in imbricate [shingled] clusters, semicircular, applanate (thin and horizontally flattened), margin usually acute, sterile underneath; upper surface yellowish brown, finally blackened, margin colored as upper surface or paler; without zones or with faint zones, smooth or with shallow grooves, tomentose or radially fibrillose, becoming bald and finally cracked, (Gilbertson), up to 22cm along wood, up to 12cm broad, and up to 5cm thick, flat and bracket-like, fan-shaped; orange-brown to reddish brown; with concentric undulations, "tuberculate toward center, coarsely hispid-tomentose"; margin "sharp and slightly incurved, lighter and almost smooth", (Breitenbach)
Flesh: up to 1cm thick, firm-fibrous, not zoned, "upper tomentum often delimited by a darker, compact layer that forms the upper surface on weathered pilei"; bright yellowish brown to reddish brown, (Gilbertson), soft, succulent, and fibrous when fresh, hard and brittle when dry; light brown when fresh, (Breitenbach)
Pores: 4-5 per mm, angular; pale brown, glancing [showing a change in appearance from dull to lustrous when orientation of surface to incident light is changed], walls thin, entire, fimbriate (fringed) to granulose; tube layer up to 0.8cm thick, pale brownish, tubes often whitish inside, (Gilbertson), 2-4 per mm, rounded to polygonal; yellow-brownish to ocher-brownish with faint hint of olive, iridescent; tube layer 0.5-1(1.5)cm thick, (Breitenbach)
Odor: indistinct (Buczacki)
Taste: indistinct (Buczacki)
Microscopic: spores 6-8 x 4.5-5.5 microns, broadly elliptic to oval, smooth, inamyloid, pale to dark yellowish brown; basidia 4-spored, 16-21 x 7-8 microns, broadly clavate, simple septate at base; branched setal hyphae abundant on cap surface, firm- to thick-walled, branching pattern variable, monopodial to dichotomous, branches often curved, main axis up to 12 microns wide, simple, unbranched setal elements similar to cap setae also present on hymenial surface (rarely projecting beyond cystidia); context hyphae of two types, some 5-11 microns wide, thin-walled to thick-walled, simple-septate, pale yellowish, with infrequent branching, others 2.5-5 microns wide, thin-walled to thick-walled, pale brownish to almost colorless, with frequent branching, simple septate, (Gilbertson)
annual, on hardwoods, causing white rot of dead hardwoods, (Gilbertson), generally imbricate [shingled], more rarely single, on living hardwoods, usually on wounds, (Breitenbach)
Similar Species
Inonotus hispidus is usually thicker and has dark brown cap tomentum without the prominent setae, (Breitenbach). Inonotus glomerulatus has a yellowish brown cap surface often covered with a yellow spore deposit and lacks setal hyphae on the cap surface, whereas I. cuticularis has a yellowish brown cap surface that has branched setal hyphae, (Ginns(28)). See also SIMILAR section of Inocutis rheades.
