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

Summary:
Features include a perennial brown pore surface growing flat and firmly attached on wood of conifers, especially Western Red-cedar, firmly attached, with a paler brown, fringed margin, soft flesh that is light in weight, and microscopic characters including colorless oval spores, and conspicuous setal hyphae that project into the tubes. "The setal hyphae seen with a hand lens in the margin, tube layer, and rotted wood are good field characters" (Ginns). |What was thought to be a variation of Phellinidium weirii that affects Douglas-fir, true firs, and hemlock (as opposed to the one that affects Western Red-cedar and Alaskan Yellow-cedar) is now regarded as Phellinidium sulphurascens Pilat; Larsen et al. (1994) summarize the criteria for separating P. sulphurascens and P. weirii: 1) P. weirii usually occurs on Western Red-Cedar, whereas P. sulphurascens usually occurs on conifers other than Western Red-Cedar, 2) fruitbodies are usually perennial in P. weirii and usually annual in P. sulphurascens, 3) sporulation occurs in spring / mid-summer in P. weirii and in late summer / fall in P. sulphurascens, 4) in North America, pathogenesis by P. weirii does not result in death of the host - stem breakage is caused by butt-rot, but with P. sulphurascens in North America pathogenesis involved with root-rot results in death of the host and windthrow associated with "root-ball", 5) spores eventually have 2 germ tubes and germ tubes and juvenile mycelia are 2-3.5 microns wide in P. weirii, whereas spores have one germ tube and germ tubes and juvenile mycelia are 4.5-6 microns wide in P. sulphurascens, 6) dimensions of setal hyphae in wood and test tube culture are greater in P. sulphurascens, 7) columnar tufts of hyphae are present in test tube cultures at 6 weeks in P. weirii but not in at 6 weeks in P. sulphurascens, (Larsen, M.J.(11)). |The online Species Fungorum, accessed May 29, 2020, gave the current name as Coniferiporia weirii, but MycoBank, accessed the same day, included that name as an obligate or homotypic synonym.

Larsen, M.J.(11) used collections of P. weirii from BC, WA, OR, ID, and AK, and collections of P. sulphurascens from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, and Russia; P. weirii found in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, (Gilbertson, including any P. sulphurascens collections).

Cap:
growing flat on wood with pore surface exposed, spreading out extensively, light in weight, not readily separable; margin up to 2cm wide, soft, fimbriate [fringed], pale brown, (Gilbertson description of P. weirii sensu lato that includes P. sulphurascens), perennial and typically darker in color than the light buff Douglas fir P. sulphurascens, (Allen)

Flesh:
up to 1cm thick, soft, fibrous, spongy; not zoned, yellowish brown, (Gilbertson for P. weirii sensu lato)

Pores:
5-7 per mm, circular to angular, with thick setulose walls that become thin and torn; slightly darker brown than margin; tube layer brittle, light grayish brown, each layer up to 0.5cm thick, (Gilbertson for P. weirii sensu lato), pores small and somewhat irregular in Douglas-fir form [P. sulphurascens], pore surface smoother and pores more regular in Western Red-cedar form [P. weirii], (Allen)

Microscopic:
spores 4.5-6 x 3.5-4.5 microns, oval, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 10-11 x 5-5.5 microns, clavate, simple-septate at base; hymenial setae absent but projecting setal hyphae abundant, projecting up to 70 microns, 6-10 microns thick, straight, pointing toward the tube opening; hyphae of context of 2 other types: 1) 2.5-5.5 microns thick, "pale yellowish brown in KOH, thin-walled, with frequent branching, simple-septate", 2) 3-5.5 microns wide, "darker brown in KOH, thick-walled, with rare branching", (Gilbertson for P. weirii sensu lato), setal hyphae averaging 471.7 microns (with standard deviation 100 microns) x 8.1 microns (with standard deviation 2.1 microns), (Larsen, M.J.)