Echinodontium Tinctorium

location: North America
edibility: Inedible
fungus colour: Red or redish or pink, Black or blackish
normal size: over 15cm
cap type: Other
stem type: Lateral, rudimentary or absent
spore colour: Light to dark brown
habitat: Grows on wood

Echinodontium tinctorium (Ellis & Ev.) Ellis & Ev. Indian Paint Fungus Fruit body perennial; no stem. Bracket up to 40cm across, 30cm wide, 20cm thick, hoof-shaped; upper surface dark dull brown to olive-black, bristly and hairy becoming hard, brittle, and cracking concentrically into blocks. Teeth up to 3cm long, flattened, thin and brittle at first, becoming thick and stout with blunt ends and crowded in age; pale to pinkish, grayish buff. Flesh up to 5cm thick, with blackish brittle upper layer 2mm thick, hard, woody, zoned; brick red. Spores ellipsoid, smooth to minutely spiny, amyloid, 6-8 x 4.5-6µ. Deposit white. Hyphal structure dimitic. Habitat under branch stubs on coniferous wood, usually western grand fir and western hemlock. Found in western North America from Alaska to Mexico. Season all year. Not edible.