Yellow Reishi | G. curtisii

Description

[Description From Mushroomexpert.com]

Ecology: Saprobic and sometimes parasitic; growing alone or in groups on decaying hardwood logs and stumps, or from the wounds of injured, living trees; annual; spring through fall (and over winter in warm climates); widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and New York.

Cap: 3–12 cm across; 2–8 cm deep; more or less semicircular in outline, or irregularly kidney-shaped; surface with a lacquered-looking outer crust; zoned with yellow, white, and red when young, maturing to red, brownish red, or reddish brown overall, with or without a few paler (orangish to whitish) zones near the margin; bald.

Pore Surface: Whitish to pale brownish when young, becoming medium brown with age; bruising darker brown; with 4–5 tiny, circular pores per mm; tubes 0.5–2 cm deep.

Stem: Usually present; lateral and usually at an angle (45–90 degrees) to the cap; bald; lacquered; brownish red to reddish brown.

Flesh: Tough but not woody; very pale brown (but darker immediately above the tubes); with melanoid bands (see discussion) but without concentric growth zones.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH instantly black on flesh.

Spore Print: Brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9–11.5 x 5.5–7 µm including the hyaline vesicular appendix; more or less ellipsoid, with a truncated end; appearing double-walled, with a series of “pillars” between the walls; finely stippled; inamyloid; brown in KOH. Cystidia and setae not found. Hyphal system trimitic. Clamp connections present.