Summary:
"recognized readily in the field because of the watery and sappy fruitbodies, often occurring in abundance, the whitish to pale ochraceous color and the coarsely hirsute pileus and slightly irregular pores. Microscopically, the cystidia are diagnostic." (Gilbertson(1)).

Odor:
pleasant (Breitenbach)

Taste:
bitter (Breitenbach), mild (Phillips)

Microscopic:
spores 4.5-6.5 x 3-4.5 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 15-25 x 4-5 microns, clavate, with basal clamp; cystidia embedded in the hymenium or slightly projecting, up to 50 microns long from the clamp connections from which they arise, 5-12 microns wide, "mostly numerous, ventricose and tapering, either acute or slightly rounded, mostly smooth, but also with a few grainy crystals on the top, thin-walled in the lower part, distinctly thickened towards the top"; hyphal system monomitic: generative hyphae up to 4 microns wide in hymenium, (in context mostly wider, up to 8 microns wide), with clamp connections, thin-walled to thick-walled, moderately branched, (Gilbertson), spores 5-6 x 3.5-4 microns, oval, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, sometimes with granular contents, (Breitenbach)

Notes:
Climacocystis borealis has been found in BC, WA, OR, ID, NB, NS, ON, PE, AK, AZ, CO, CT, MA, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, TN, UT, VA, VT, WI, and WY, and it is circumglobal and boreal, (Gilbertson). It occurs in Europe, Asia, Australia, (Breitenbach).

EDIBILITY

no (Phillips)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Phylacteria terrestris (Ehrh.) Pat.
Polyporus borealis Fr.