Summary:
Laetiporus conifericola forms conspicuous annual shelving masses of orange or yellow, semicircular to fan-shaped fruiting bodies with a yellow pore surface. It is common in the Pacific Northwest. This species has long been known under the name Laetiporus sulphureus (Bull.: Fr.) Murrill, but that taxon has been found to represent several species including Laetiporus conifericola characterized by habitat on conifer species, far western distribution in North America, and spores 6.5-8 x 4.0-5.0 microns, (Burdsall(6)).

Odor:
fungal or rather pungent (Arora), nut-like, pleasant, (Gilbertson)

Taste:
nearly mild or acidic becoming quite sour or unpleasant when old, (Arora), nut-like, pleasant, (Gilbertson), of chicken (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Microscopic:
spores 6.5-8 x 4-5 microns, broadly oval, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 15 x 7.5 microns, pyriform, colorless, thin-walled, lacking a basal clamp connection; hymenium composed of basidia; subhymenium of tightly interwoven, frequently septate, thin-walled, colorless hyphae lacking clamp connections, giving rise to hymenial elements; pore trama dimitic, consisting of generative hyphae and skeletal hyphae, the generative hyphae nearly parallel in arrangement, 3-5 microns wide, thin-walled, colorless, regularly septate, lacking clamp connections, remaining intact in 2% KOH, the skeletal hyphae 4-6 microns wide, "nearly parallel but somewhat sinuous and undulating, occasionally branched and septate, lacking clamp connections", walls 1-1.5 microns thick, dissolving nearly completely in 2% KOH; cap context dimitic, composed of generative and binding hyphae, the latter 4-12 microns wide, mostly long cylindric hyphae with dendroid side branches, colorless, smooth, occasionally septate, lacking clamp connections, walls 1-3 microns thick, dissolving nearly completely in 2% KOH; cap surface a tissue of compactly interwoven hyphae 30-50 microns thick, hyphae up to 7 microns wide, but mostly collapsed, walls up to 1 micron thick, colorless, smooth, septate, lacking clamp connections, grading rather abruptly into cap context, (Burdsall), spores 5-7 x 3.5-5 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, smooth, (Arora), spores 5-8 x 4-5 microns, oval to elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 20-25 x 6-9 microns, clavate, simple septate at base; cystidia absent; generative hyphae of context 6-12 microns wide, thin-walled, colorless, simple-septate, with rare branching, binding hyphae of context 3-20 microns wide, firm-walled to thick-walled, colorless, nonseptate, much branched and interlocking, hyphae of trama 4-6 microns wide, thin-walled to firm-walled, with occasional branching, simple-septate, (Gilbertson)

Spore Deposit:
white (Arora)

Notes:
L. conifericola is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, and elsewhere including AK, CA, NV, (Burdsall).

EDIBILITY

delicious when thoroughly cooked, but caution advised because poisoning has occurred, this species should never be eaten raw, tough and sour when not young, margin more tender than the rest of the fruiting body, (Arora), allergic and gastrointestinal symptoms have occurred (Lincoff), there have been reports of death following Laetiporus ingestion (Benjamin)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Hydnum arachnoideum Peck
Scytinostroma arachnoideum (Peck) Gilb.