English: Crab-of-the-woods;
Sulphur polypore;
Sulphur shelf; Lobster-of-the-woods; Chicken polypore; Chicken-of-the-woods.
Synonym: Boletus sulphureus.
Name: Laetiporus means "with bright pores; sulphureus means "the colour of sulphur".
German: Gemeine Schwefelporling.
Clades:
Polyporaceae;
Polyporales;
Basidiomycota;
FungiRegion: Europe, North America.
Habitat: grows on dead or mature hardwoods, Quercus, Prunus, Pyrus, Populus, Salix, Robinia, Fagus, occasionally conifers, Ceratonia, Eucalyptus; from August to October.
Ecology: deer consume this type of mushroom; causes brown cubical rot of heartwood in the roots, tree base and stem, at first discoloring yellowish to red, subsequently reddish-brown and brittle, to powder.
Content: lectin, LSL, = sugar-binding proteins.
Use: edible when young, exuding large amounts of a clear to pale yellow watery liquid, tastes like crab or lobster; commercial cultivation, smal scale.
MycologyType: saprophyte, occasionally parasite; causing brown cubical rot in the heartwood of trees.
Stipe: lacking
Cap: flat; sulphur-yellow to bright orange, to golden-yellow, pale beige or pale grey when old; suedelike texture; shelf-like, on tree trunks, branches, 5 to 60 cm, 4 cm thick; first, knob-shaped, expanding to fan-shaped shelves, typically in overlapping tiers; flesh is succulent, with a strong fungal aroma, exudes a yellowish, transparent juice when fresh; later dry and brittle.
Hymenium attachment is irregular; pores on hymenium, tubelike pores rather than gills; spore print is white.
TaxonomyDNA, mitochondrial, research has shown five distinct clades: Sulphureus clade I has white-pored, clade II has yellow-pored.