Bracket fungus

Bracket Fungus

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Bracket fungus

Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are fungi

Fungus

A fungus is a Eukaryote organism that is a member of the Kingdom Fungi . The fungi are a monophyletic group, also called the Eumycota , that is phylogeny distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds and water molds ....
, in the phylum Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota

Basidiomycota is one of two large phylum that, together with the Ascomycota, comprise the subkingdom Dikarya within the Kingdom Fungi. More specifically the Basidiomycota include mushrooms, puffballs, stinkhorns, bracket fungi, other polypores, jelly fungi, boletes, cantharellus, Geastraceae, smut , common bunt, rust , mirror yeasts, and the...
. They produce shelf- or bracket-shaped fruiting bodies

Mushroom

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What whould the structure and funtion of bracket fungus be

Encyclopedia

Bracket fungi, or shelf fungi, are fungi

Fungus

Basidiomycota

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to those fungi that have a stem , a cap , and gills on the unde...
(conks) that lie in a close planar grouping of separate or interconnected horizontal rows. Brackets can range from only a single row of a few caps, to dozens of rows of caps that can weigh several hundred pounds. They are mainly found on trees, and resemble mushrooms. Some form annual fruiting bodies while others are perennial and grow larger year after year. Bracket fungi are typically tough and sturdy and produce their spores, called basidiospores, within the pores that typically make up the undersurface.

The term classically was reserved for polypore

Polypore

Polypores are a group of tough, leathery poroid mushrooms similar to boletes, but typically lacking a distinct stalk. The technical distinction between the two types of mushrooms is that polypores do not have the spore-bearing tissue continuous along the entire underside of the mushroom....
s, however molecular studies have revealed some odd relationships. The beefsteak fungus, a well known bracket fungus, is actually a member of the agarics

Agaricales

The order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms , or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The Order has about 4,000 identified species, or one quarter of all known Agaricomycetes....
. Other examples of bracket fungi include the sulphur shelf

Sulphur shelf

Laetiporus is a genus of edible mushrooms found throughout much of the world. Some species are commonly known as sulphur shelf, chicken of the woods, the chicken mushroom, or the chicken fungus because many think they taste like chicken....
, birch bracket

Birch bracket

Piptoporus betulinus, commonly known as the birch bracket or razor strop, is one of the most common polypore bracket fungus and, as the name suggests, grows almost exclusively on birch trees....
, dryad's saddle

Polyporus squamosus

Polyporus squamosus is an edible basidiomycete bracket fungus, with common names including Dryad's saddle and Pheasant's back mushroom....
, artist's conk

Ganoderma applanatum

Ganoderma applanatum is a bracket fungus with a cosmopolitan distribution.The spore bodies are up to 30-40 cm across, hard, woody-textured, and inedible; they are white at first but soon turn dark red-brown....
, and turkey tail

Trametes versicolor

Trametes versicolor, formerly known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor, is a common polypore mushroom of the genus Trametes....
. Some species of bracket fungi are cultivated for human consumption or medicinal use. The name Polypores is often used for a group that includes many of the hard or leathery fungi, which often lack a stem, growing straight out of wood.

Their hardness means they are very resilient and can live for quite a long time, with many species even developing beautiful multi-coloured circles of colour that are actually annual growth rings.

The group includes many different shapes and forms that are common in the tropical forests, including the hard 'cup fungi' and the 'shell', 'plate' and 'bracket' fungus commonly found growing off logs and still standing dead trees.

These often grow in semi-circular shapes, looking like shelving growing out of trees or wood.

One of the more common ones, Ganoderma

Ganoderma

Ganoderma is a genus of polypore which grow on wood and includes over 250 species, many from tropical regions. Because of their extensive use in traditional Asian medicines, and their potential in bioremediation, they are a very important genus economically....
spp, can grow large thick shelves that may contribute to the death of the tree, and then feed off the wood for years after.