Appearance
After starting as just a crust on the wood, the fruiting structure develops undulating intergrowing brackets up to about 3 cm broad, which have a tough rubbery texture. The edges and fertile lower surfaces show a fairly vivid violet colour while the fungus is growing, and the upper surfaces have a grey aspect and are covered with whitish hairs. After a week or two the fructification dries out, becomes brittle, and turns a drab brown or beige. Infected wood can be recognized because it is stained a darker tint.The spores are rounded cylinders approximately 5-8 µm x 3-4 µm in size. The hyphal structure is monomitic with clamp connections.
It is often found on old stumps and dead wood, but can also be a serious parasite of living trees. As well as plum trees it attacks many other broad-leafed species . Occasionally it also infects conifers . Geographically it is roughly speaking just as widespread as its hosts - it is common in woods, orchards and tree plantations in temperate climates.
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