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Species Information
Summary: {See also Amylocystis lapponica, Leptoporus mollis, Postia fragilis Table.} Features include growth on conifers in shelf-like form or bent outward to form a cap, the upper surface pale pink to pale purple becoming purplish brown, the pores white to pink-tinted or pale purple becoming purplish brown, soft consistency, growth on conifers, and microscopic characters.
Leptoporus mollis has been found in BC, WA, OR, ID, NB, NS, PQ, AR, AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, LA, MI, MT, NH, NM, NY, TX, WY, Europe, and Asia, (Gilbertson).
Cap: shelf-like, bent outward to form a cap from a flat surface with pores exposed, or rarely entirely flat with pores exposed, single, semicircular to elongate, up to 1cm x 3cm x 2cm, upper surface whitish pink or pale reddish purple becoming purplish brown, margin colored the same or cream-colored next to the wood where growing flat; faintly tomentose to bald, not zoned, becoming wrinkled when old, (Gilbertson), 2-6cm along wood, projecting 2-4cm, and 2-4cm thick where attached, (larger where adjacent fruitbodies joined), bracket-like and attached broadly; pink to pink-brown or purple-brown, irregularly colored; soft-tomentose, uneven; "margin inflated to sharp", (Breitenbach)
Flesh: up to 0.7cm thick, soft and felty, faintly zoned or not zoned; cream to pinkish buff becoming pale pinkish brown, (Gilbertson), "soft, spongy, succulent", "turning pink where cut", (Breitenbach)
Pores: 3-4 per mm, circular to angular; white to pale reddish purple, becoming dark purplish brown; with thick, entire walls, tube layer up to 1cm thick, drying dark purplish brown, distinct from flesh, (Gilbertson), pores 3-4 per mm, rounded-oval to labyrinthine [maze-like] and slit; whitish to pink-tinted, (Breitenbach)
Chemical Reactions: turns dark red in KOH (Beug)
Odor: non-specific, weak, (Breitenbach)
Taste: mild (Breitenbach)
Microscopic: spores 5-6 x 1.5-2 microns, allantoid [curved sausage-shaped], smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 16-18 x 4-5 microns, clavate, simple septate at base; cystidia none; hyphal system monomitic: context hyphae 2.5-5 microns wide, thin-walled to thick-walled, simple-septate, with rare to frequent branching, tramal hyphae similar, (Gilbertson), spores 5.5-7.5 x 1.5-2.3 microns, allantoid [curved sausage-shaped], smooth, inamyloid, colorless, some with 2 droplets, (Breitenbach)
Spore Deposit: white (Buczacki)
Habitat / Range
annual, on dead wood of conifers, causing a brown cubical rot, (Gilbertson), single, laterally growing together, or imbricate [shingled] on dead, standing, or fallen Picea [spruce] and Pinus [pine], (Breitenbach for Europe), summer to fall (Buczacki)
Similar Species
Amylocystis lapponica has cylindric spores 8-11 x 2.5-3.5 microns, clamp connections, and amyloid metuloids, whereas Leptoporus mollis has allantoid spores 5-6 x 1.5-2 microns, no clamp connections, and no cystidia, and Postia fragilis has allantoid spores 4-5 x 1-1.5 microns, clamp connections, and no cystidia, (Ginns(25)). Postia fragilis has whitish fruitbodies that turn red or brown only after contact or bruising, (Breitenbach). Sarcoporia polyspora also stains reddish brown, has elliptic to cylindric spores 5-7 x 2.5-4.0 microns, has clamp connections, and lacks cystidia (Ginns(28)).
