''Picipes melanopus'' is a species of mushroom in the family

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymeniu ...

. It can be found growing on dead wood, or from a submerged

sclerotium A sclerotium (; (), is a compact mass of hardened fungal mycelium containing food reserves. One role of sclerotia is to survive environmental extremes. In some higher fungi such as ergot, sclerotia become detached and remain dormant until favor ...

, from spring through fall.

Description

''Picipes melanopus'' has a brown velvety cap which grows up to 10 cm across. It is centrally depressed, and has tough flesh. The stipe has a soft black felt covering. The species is inedible. Species with a similar appearance include '' Picipes badius'', '' Cerioporus leptocephalus'', and '' Cerioporus varius''. All three also have a black felt on the stipe, but only on the lower half for the latter two. ''P. badius'' has no

clamp connection A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of Basidiomycetes fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), rec ...

s. Also similar are ''

Polyporus tuberaster ''Polyporus tuberaster'' is a species of fungus in the genus ''Polyporus''. The yellow-brown cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 320 ...

'' and '' Jahnoporus hirtus'', the latter of which has a gray-brown cap.

Description

References

Further reading