Wet rot

Appearance

resupinate, starting as small rounded spots, then forming patches 0.05-0.1cm thick and several centimeters to decimeters across, attached tightly, consistency membranous, fibrous, and soft; cream-colored in center when young, then ocher-brown to dark brown; "smooth to irregularly verrucose-tuberculate"; "lighter to whitish toward the margin, margin finely fringed", (Breitenbach), 4-40cm across, circular to elongate, spreading sheet-like on wood; "brownish, becoming olive-yellow, and yellowish to cottony-white along margin", (surface also described as "yellowish, becoming olive to bronze"); "smooth to uneven, wavy or bumpy", with low, broad, dome-shaped warts and projecting rhizomorphs; flesh 0.03-0.1cm thick, (Lincoff), spore deposit pale buff brown (Buczacki)

Habitat

on dead conifer wood and hardwood, more rarely a wound parasite on living trees, summer to fall, (Breitenbach), on logs, dead stems, causes a brown cubical rot, causes dry rot, destroys boards and timbers in buildings, causes heart rot, less commonly a root rot, in live conifers, hosts include hardwoods and conifers, (Ginns), on coniferous and hardwood logs, also on standing timbers in buildings, especially in cellars and wet areas, causes discoloration and cracking of wood, requires dampness to grow, (Lincoff), all year (Buczacki)