Crowded Parchment

not listed

not listed

not listed

Crowded Parchment is a common, widely distributed, wood decaying, bracket fungi. It is saprobic, occurring on stumps, logs, and sticks of hardwood trees, especially oak. It appears as fused masses or dense, overlapping clusters that sometimes entirely encircle a branch.

There is no stalk.

The fruiting body is often a thin, semicircular or fan-shaped, 3 ⁄16″ to ¾″ wide bracket (cap). It is leathery and pliant when moist, rigid and brittle when dry. It may be flat, wavy, or curved up at the sides in the shape of a sliced funnel. It very often it lies flat on the substrate without a well-defined cap, with the margins free of the substrate and folded inward. The upper surface is dry and concentrically zoned with shades of orange, orangish-brown, tan, pinkish, or cinnamon. It is densely covered with velvety or appressed hairs but often hairless or nearly hairless near the margins. As it ages the hairs wear away.

The under surface is smooth, with no layer of pores or tubes. It is bright orange to orangish-buff at first, fading to cinnamon-buff or dull white with age.

The flesh is thin, tough, and inedible. It does not bleed or change color when cut.

The spore print is white but difficult to obtain.

In dense groups or fused masses on stumps, logs, and sticks of hardwood trees, especially oak.

Spring through fall and persisting through winter

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Common and widespread

Some mycologists treat Crowded Parchment as a variety of Hairy Curtain Crust (Stereum hirsutum).

Orange Lichens on Dead branch

Location: Afton State Park, Southern River Trail

Location: Afton State Park. Northern Trail.

Orange Lichens on Dead branch