Birch Polypore
An annual birch polypore with kidney-shaped caps that are whitish to brownish with the pore surface being whitish (or brown with age). It's very common on birch trees. The surface of the fruiting body was traditionally used as a strop for sharpening the edges on razors. "Ötzi the Iceman" (the 5,000-year-old mummy found in Tyrol) was found to be carrying this fungus.
''Fomitopsis betulina'', commonly known as the birch polypore, birch bracket, or razor strop, is one of the most common polyporous bracket fungi and, as the name suggests, grows almost exclusively on birch trees. The brackets burst out from the bark of the tree, and these fruiting bodies can last for more than a year.
Similar species: Polyporales
By Christine Young
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Uploaded Feb 14, 2018. Captured Apr 9, 2017 15:05 in 281 Main St S, Woodbury, CT 06798, USA.
