|
| Species of the Month - October 2012 Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus The Dryad's Saddle is a spectacular bracket fungus that grows on dead deciduous trees, often Sycamore but also Beech, Ash, Willow, etc, and helps to rot them down. The NBN map shows very few records in NW Scotland, yet it has been seen 3 times by lnhg members in the last month, first at Dunollie by Margaret Powell-Joss, then on Mull by Cynthia Grindley, and finally we were shown it at Kinlochleven by Hamish Small. The first two of these were on Sycamore, and the third was on an Ash which had been cut down to make a wooden seat. The wooden seat was placed on the opposite side of the path to the remains of the Ash, and the fungus is now growing on both the seat and the tree it was made from!
The cap can be up to
60 cm wide and is orange-buff in colour, becoming browner as it matures.
It is covered in dark brown scales arranged in concentric rings, and is
attached to the tree by a short stem. The underside is white,
creamy yellow or pale buff, and covered with angular pores about 1 mm
across.
This may be an
exceptionally good year for the fungus in our area so it will be
interesting to see if there are any more sightings. You're not
likely to walk past one without noticing it.
By filling in this form you agree that the information contained in this form may be collated and disseminated manually or electronically for environmental decision-making, education, research and other public benefit uses in accordance with the LNHG data access policy. Your email address will not form part of the record and will not be passed on to anyone.
Carl Farmer
Sep 2012 - Tawny Grisette
Next month's page
|
