I saw Polyporus badius up the Welcombe

I love all sorts of fungi. Yesterday in Blue Cap Covert (the woods behind the benches in the top Rowley Field) I came across these growing on dead Ash. They belong to the polypore family, a large group that includes the bracket fungi. They have pores rather than the gills associated with the edible field mushrooms. Sometimes the pores are so fine that they appear to the naked eye as smooth. A few of the polypores are edible (Chicken of the Woods for example) but most aren't. They tend to be woody especially when old. The Dryad's Saddle (Polyporus squamosus) which I've posted about before is also edible but only when young.

As to yesterday's find - Polyporus badius - despite the pleasant mushroomy smell, it's not edible but is an attractive fungus and we're all the better off for it being there.




Footnote
I wonder how these Cyclamen got into the woods?