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Species Information
Summary: Piptoporus betulinus forms a kidney-shaped to round, whitish to brownish bracket with a curb-like extension of margin below the level of the pore surface. It is found only on birch and is common in that habitat. |The current name in the online Species Fungorum accessed May 3, 2020 was Fomitopsis betulina, but MycoBank, accessed the same day, gave the current name as Piptoporus betulinus. |It has been used as tinder, as a razor strop, and as an anesthetic, (Phillips). According to Ginns(28) the medicinal properties attributed to it include boosting the immune system and actions against inflammation, viruses, and bacteria. |There is interesting speculation about why the ''Iceman'' was carrying pieces of Piptoporus betulinus: "Among the numerous items of equipment with the ''Iceman'', who died more than 5000 years ago on an alpine glacier, were three fungal objects : two different shaped fruitbody pieces of the polypore Piptoporus betulinus, each mounted separately on a leather thong, and, found in his girdle bag, a relatively large quantity of tinder material prepared from the ''true tinder bracket'' Fomes fomentarius. A full description of these items and a chronological report on their identification is given. The question about the possible use of the fungi is discussed on the basis of a comprehensive collection of ethnomycological and pharmacological literature data." (Peintner(5) with Latin names italicized).
Piptoporus betulinus has been found in BC, WA, ID, AB, MB, NB, NS, NT, ON, PE, PQ, SK, YT, AK, CT, IA, KS, MA, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VT, WI, and WV, and circumboreally, (Gilbertson). It also occurs in Europe and Asia (Breitenbach).
Cap: (2.5)5-25cm broad, 2-6(10)cm thick, shelf-like or hoof-like, kidney-shaped or nearly round in outline, convex to nearly flat, "tough or corky when fresh, rigid and hard when dry"; white to buff, tan, brown, or grayish brown; covered by thin, smooth or suede-like crust that "often breaks up into scales or flat patches or wears away, revealing the whitish undersurface"; margin thick, blunt, inrolled with curb-like projection down below level of pore surface, (Arora), up to 15cm x 25cm x 6cm, usually dimidiate [roughly semicircular] or kidney-shaped; whitish to mouse-colored or brownish, not zoned; usually breaking up to appear pitted or scaly, bald; margin usually extending down below pore surface, (Gilbertson), 5-20(30)cm along wood, projecting 5-20cm, 2-5cm thick; "cream-white when young, later ocher-brown to gray-brown", (Breitenbach)
Flesh: thick, punky or corky; white, (Arora), up to 5cm thick, "tough when fresh, drying soft-corky", azonate; white, (Gilbertson)
Pores: 2-4 per mm, sometimes becoming tooth-like; white, when old becoming pale brown or grayish brown; tube layer 0.2-1cm thick, (Arora), 3-5 per mm, circular to angular, walls thick but split and clump together when old to give a toothed appearance; white at first, becoming pale brownish when old; tube layer up to 1cm thick, easily separated from flesh when fresh, (Gilbertson)
Stem: absent or present as stubby extension of cap (lateral or attached to top), (Arora), if present, up to 6cm long and 5cm thick; whitish to brown; bald, often resinous, (Gilbertson)
Odor: strong and pleasant, (Phillips), none (Lincoff(1)), pleasant (Breitenbach)
Microscopic: spores 5-6 x 1.5-1.7 microns, cylindric, slightly curved, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 10-12 x 5-6 microns, clavate, with basal clamp; cystidia absent; hyphal system di-trimitic, generative hyphae in context 2.5-4 microns wide, colorless, thin-walled, with clamp connections, rarely branched, skeletal hyphae of context 2.5-5 microns wide, colorless in KOH, "thick-walled, nonseptate, some much branched, others with rare or occasional branching", hyphae of trama similar, (Gilbertson), spores 3-6 x 1.5-2 microns, cylindric to sausage-shaped, smooth, (Arora)
Spore Deposit: white (Arora)
Habitat / Range
annual, single or in groups or columns on dead or sometimes living birch trees, (Arora), on birch, especially in North America Betula papyrifera (Paper Birch) and B. alleghaniensis (Yellow Birch), associated with brown cubical rot of the sapwood of dead birch, (Gilbertson), parasitic on birch, rarely on beech, (Lincoff(1)), fruiting in spring, summer, and fall, (Miller)
