Summary:
Meripilus sumstinei forms large multicapped fruitbody with ochraceous to brown, fan-shaped to spatula-shaped caps arising from a common base. The pore layer bruises blackish. It is rare in the Pacific Northwest. This fungus has been referred to in North America as Meripilus giganteus (Fr.) P. Karst. which is a European species.

Odor:
pleasant (Phillips), unpleasant but not distinctive (Miller)

Taste:
slightly sour (Phillips), mild but somewhat acrid [peppery] (Miller)

Microscopic:
spores 6-7 x 4.5-6 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 22-40 x 7-8 microns, clavate; cystidia absent, "fusoid cystidioles present, 18-40 x 5-8 microns, simple septate at base"; hyphae monomitic, generative hyphae 3-5 microns wide, with simple septa, in the trama more or less parallel, thin-walled and with numerous septa, in context and stem generative hyphae 6-14 microns wide, unbranched or sparingly branched, strongly thick-walled to almost solid, with scattered to almost no septa, mixed with more twisted and branched hyphae, some very thick-walled and swollen, others more thin-walled and of more even width, transitions occurring among all these types of hyphae, width variable from 3-10 microns, in swollen parts and around points of branching up to 15 microns wide, (Gilbertson)

Spore Deposit:
white (Lincoff)

Notes:
Meripilus sumstinei was found in Victoria BC in 2016 (according to Adolf and Oluna Ceska, pers. comm.). Ginns(28) says that the only report of Meripilus sumstinei from west of the Mississippi is from ID (according to 1914 report by Weir in Phytopathology 4: 271-276 referred to in Gilbertson(1) (as M. giganteus)), but this was written prior to the 2016 Ceska report. It has also been found in AL, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WI, and WV, (Gilbertson as M. giganteus).

EDIBILITY

yes (Phillips)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Tremellodon gelatinosum (Scop.) Fr.