Stats

Lifespan

Up to 20 yrs

Size

Large

Diet

Decomposer

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Spores

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A perennial bracket fungus that forms hard, hoof-shaped conks on dying conifers, with a fresh red-orange band circling the growth edge each year like a tree ring. It keeps adding new layers season after season, letting some conks live and grow for decades on the same trunk.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   spore

   A microscopic spore drifts on air or water and germinates where moisture and substrate meet.
2. 2.
   mycelium

   A thread-like mycelium spreads through the substrate, breaking it down into nutrients.
3. 3.
   fruiting body

   A mature fruiting body emerges to release the next generation of spores.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Fungi

Phylum

Basidiomycota

Class

Agaricomycetes

Order

Polyporales

Family

Fomitopsidaceae

Genus

Fomitopsis

Species

Fomitopsis mounceae