Red Tree Brain Fungus

(Peniophora rufa)

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

 
Red Tree Brain Fungus
Photo by Luciearl
 
Description

Red Tree Brain Fungus is a common, distinctive, wood-decaying fungus. It occurs throughout the northern Hemisphere worldwide. It is common in Minnesota. It grows on the fallen logs and branches of several tree species in the genus Populus. In Minnesota, these include quaking aspen, bigtooth aspen, and balsam poplar. It also grows on willows (Salix spp.). It obtains its nutrients from dead wood (saprobic). It may also grow on living trees (parasitic), sometimes causing disease and even death of the host (pathogenic).

The fruiting body is wart-like, 116 to (2 to 10 mm) in diameter, and 132 to 116 (1 to 2 mm) thick. It lies flat on the wood (resupinate), and it bursts through the still-attached bark. When it first appears, it is red to orangish red, and it sometimes has a dusting of whitish or grayish powder (pruinose). The surface is waxy and is wrinkled with wavy lines. As it ages, it turns wine red, it becomes more or less circular, and it is attached to the surface just in the middle, with the margins free and spread outward. Older specimens are purplish.

The flesh is hard and whitish to grayish.

The spore print is white.

 

Similar Species

 
Habitat and Hosts

Quaking aspen, bigtooth aspen, and occasionally other hardwoods

Ecology

Season

Spring through fall

Distribution

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

2/12/2024    
     

Occurrence

Common and widespread

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Fungi (fungi)

Subkingdom

Dikarya

Phylum

Basidiomycota (club fungi)

Subphylum

Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)

Class

Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)

Subclass

Agaricomycetidae

Order

Russulales

Family

Peniophoraceae

Genus

Peniophora

   

Subordinate Taxa

 

   

Synonyms

Cryptochaete rufa

Hymenochaete rufa

Sterellum rufum

Stereum rufum

Thelephora rufa

Xerocarpus rufus

   

Common Names

Red Tree Brain Fungus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Parasitic

Obtaining nutrients from another living organism.

 

Pruinescence

A waxy or powdery dust or bloom that covers the underlying coloration and gives a dusty or frosty appearance. Adjective: pruinose.

 

Resupinate

In fungi: referring to the fruiting body lying flat on the surface of the substrate, without a stalk or a cap. In orchids: referring to flowers twisted 180° at the base during development so that when mature the upper petal appears to be the lower.

 

Saprobic

A term often used for saprotrophic fungi. Referring to fungi that obtain their nutrients from decayed organic matter.

 

 

 

 

 

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Luciearl

Red Tree Brain Fungus  

Red Tree Brain Fungus

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Other Videos

Red tree brain fungus / Peniophora rufa
momentaryvitality

About

Sep 30, 2014

The tree brain fungus fascinatingly forms small red cushion-shaped structures on the decaying wood of aspen and cottonwood trees, although sometimes it parasitizes them! You can easily see where it gets its enigmatic common name from. It really sticks out when you see it on a walk in the woods.

 

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Luciearl
1/22/2024

Location: Fairview Twp.

Red Tree Brain Fungus

Luciearl
10/10/2023

Location: Fairview Twp.

Red Tree Brain Fungus
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Created: 2/12/2024

Last Updated:

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