E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Summary:
Phaeolus schweinitzii is a common, large, circular to fan-shaped polypore growing singly or in tiers from a common base on or around dead or living conifers, usually appearing terrestrial. When young, the color is orange to yellowish or greenish yellow, lighter colored on the growing margin, and the surface is felty or matted, often with concentric color zones and often knobby. When it is older it becomes rusty brown to very dark brown and smoother. The pores, which have similar colors, are angular, and may become torn or maze-like. There may be a central to lateral stem. Phaeolus schweinitzii is prized by dye-makers for the colors it gives to yarn: "green, yellow, gold, or brown", "depending on the material dyed and the mordant used", (Ginns(28)).

It is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, MB, NB, NF, NS, ON, PE, PQ, SK, AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WV, WY, and circumglobal, (Gilbertson).

Cap:
usually consisting of several caps arising in tiers from a common base, but sometimes a single cap and sometimes shelf-like on wood, cap(s) 5-30cm or more, circular to fan-shaped, cushion-shaped becoming flat or depressed, often knobby where actively growing, soft and spongy when fresh, tough or corky when old, rigid and brittle when dry, margin often wavy; orange to ochraceous to yellowish or greenish yellow (especially on margin) when growing, becoming rusty brown to blackish where bruised and entirely dark brown to blackish when old, sometimes concentrically zoned with several of these colors; densely felty or matted woolly, smoother when old; growth often results in the inclusion of nearby plant debris, (Arora), up to 25cm across, growing from a stem on the ground from roots or occasionally shelf-like or bracket-like on base of living trees, stumps, or logs; "upper surface orange at first, becoming yellowish-brown at maturity, drying to dark reddish-brown"; faintly zoned, tomentose to hirsute [hairy], (Gilbertson)

Flesh:
"yellowish to rusty-brown or brown, often appearing zoned", (Arora), up to 1.5cm thick, soft-fibrous; yellowish brown, becoming dark rusty brown when old, not zoned, (Gilbertson)

Pores:
1-3 per mm or fused to form larger pores, usually decurrent; "mustard-yellow to greenish when fresh, but quickly becoming brown or blackish" when bruised or when old; tube layer 0.2-1cm thick, (Arora), 1-2 per mm, decurrent, angular with thick walls that become torn; orange at first, becoming greenish brown, then yellowish brown to rusty brown when old; tube layer up to 1.5cm thick, distinct from flesh, greenish to rusty brown, (Gilbertson), pores irregular, polygonal, sometimes maze-like, (Lincoff(1)), when fresh "greenish, yellowish, or orange-tinted and bruise brown, then become grayish to brownish" when old, (Trudell)

Stem:
if present, 1-6cm x 1-5cm, usually narrowing downward, often rooting, central or off-center, colored and textured as cap, (Arora), up to 5cm wide, "central or lateral, short and stout, simple or branched", (Gilbertson), when present, 3-12cm x 5-6cm, (Lincoff(1))

Chemical Reactions:
cap surface and cap flesh stain black in KOH, often with fleeting cherry-red intermediate phase (Arora)

Odor:
none (Miller)

Taste:
somewhat sour (Breitenbach)

Microscopic:
spores 6-9 x 2.5-5 microns, elliptic to oval, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 20-25 x 7-8 microns, clavate, simple-septate at base; cystidia frequent, 20-90 x 7-13 microns, projecting up to 75 microns, cylindric, yellowish, not incrusted, also slender gloeoplerous hyphae 3-6 microns wide, with dark brown contents, ending at surface of hymenium; hyphae monomitic, hyphae of context 3-17 microns wide, dark brown to yellowish brown in KOH, thin-walled, simple-septate, some with frequent branching, (Gilbertson), spores 5-9 x 3.5-5 microns, elliptic, smooth, (Arora)

Spore Deposit:
white or tinged yellow to green (Arora), white (Miller)