For what qualities the fungus received the name tinder fungus. Mushroom tinder fungus varnished: photo, description, application. Variety of types and forms

True polypore is a fungus of the Coriol family, the genus Fomes. It is a widespread mushroom. The true tinder fungus is a saprophyte. This inedible mushroom.

The Latin name for the mushroom is Fomes fomentarius.

The fruit bodies of the true tinder fungus are hoof-shaped. They are woody in structure. Their width ranges from 5 to 40 centimeters, and the thickness is 5-20 centimeters. As a rule, fruiting bodies are sessile, attached sideways.

The surface of true polypores is smooth, covered with a thick crust of whitish, dull gray, brown or leather-yellow color, and in old age the crust becomes almost black. Sometimes there is a slightly reddish tint. Concentric zones are visible in the coloring. The surface of the cap is furrowed, and the edges are growing, fluffy or woolly.

The pulp of the present tinder fungus is hard, woody. The color of the pulp is yellow-brown. It emits a faint fruity odor.

The surface of the underside of the fruiting body of the fungus, called the hymenophore, is flat. Its color can be whitish, grayish or gray-brown. The pores are rounded. The tubules are arranged in layers: every year a new layer of tubules appears on last year's old layer, the thickness of which is 5 millimeters. The pores of the new layer are whitish in color, and over time they become yellow-gray, if you press on them, they become noticeably brown.

Places of growth of true tinder fungi.

True polypores live throughout the northern hemisphere. It is one of the most common mushrooms and is cosmopolitan. Fruiting bodies appear singly or in rows.

Evaluation of the edibility of the present tinder fungus.

The real tinder fungus, like the rest of the Coriol family, is an inedible mushroom.

Interesting information about real tinder fungi.

  • Depending on which tree these mushrooms grow on, several forms of true tinder fungi are distinguished;
  • Previously, tinder fungi were used as tinder, and they were also used to make hats and other types of clothing;
  • True tinder fungi lead to the development of a white core of wood rot, as a result, the tree becomes brittle and breaks into plates.

Medicinal properties of true tinder fungi.

Among the people, the real tinder fungus is called leafy tinder fungus, larch sponge and blood sponge, the last name is not accidental, because it is used as a hemostatic agent. The pores of the present tinder fungus perfectly absorb blood, creating something like a bandage bandage.

The healing properties of these tinder fungi are extensive. These mushrooms have been used for therapeutic purposes since tsarist times. In Russia, they became so popular that at some point they began to be imported abroad. Trutovik even received the honorary name of "the king of all medicinal potions."

These mushrooms are medical purposes actively used in Greece. The Greek connoisseur Dioscorides called this mushroom a panacea and prescribed it for various internal diseases. The doctor believed that real tinder fungi help restore strength, relieve depression and fatigue.

Trutoviki real in Ancient Greece were very expensive. King Mithridates found out that if you take an infusion of this fungus regularly, you can protect yourself from the effects of poison. During his reign, the king drank it remedy. And at one point the king became depressed, he wanted to poison himself by taking big portion poison, but the toxins not only had no effect, but did not even cause digestive irritation.

Real tinder fungi are able to remove toxins from the body, this has been recorded by modern scientists. The tests were carried out on mice, and the results were amazing - arsenic compounds and mercury dichloride came out of the animals' bodies. This is facilitated by agaric acid contained in the fruiting bodies.

Also, real tinder fungi are able to restore the liver. Mushrooms contain the polysaccharide lanophile, which stimulates the liver to secrete necessary for correct operation enzymes.

Trutovik is a truly unique mushroom, it also treats the lungs. Infusions made from real tinder fungus are useful for both common coughs and serious lung diseases, such as lung cancer and pneumonia. Also tinder gives good results with tuberculosis.

In China, preparations based on tinder fungus have a very wide range actions. They are used for excess weight, lung diseases, diarrhea, liver problems and even impotence. In addition, real tinder fungi can help rejuvenate the body, they have a positive effect on skin condition and relieve fatigue. Women claim that after taking preparations based on tinder fungus, the skin becomes taut, and the nails stop exfoliating and grow faster.

But it is worth knowing that these drugs should not be used by children, pregnant and lactating women.

Rules for the collection and harvesting of real tinder fungi.

These mushrooms for medicinal purposes can be collected independently throughout the year. But they should be cut only from living trees.

In order to prevent tinder fungi are used for about a month twice a year. But during therapy certain diseases the term is extended to 4 months.

Tinder infusions are made with boiling water, warm water or vodka. Infusion necessarily insist. And it should be stored in the refrigerator.

Twins of real tinder fungi.

A similar species is the bordered tinder fungus. It is also an inedible mushroom. Its fruit bodies are perennial, sessile, round or hoof-shaped. The diameter of the fruiting body can reach up to 30 centimeters, and its height can be 10 centimeters. Concentric zones are clearly visible on the cap. The color of the cap is gray-gray, gray-brown or almost black. There is a yellow-orange edge. The pulp is elastic, dense, woody. The color of the pulp is beige or light brown.

These fungi are saprophytes and cause brown rot on trees. They grow throughout the temperate zone. Bordered polypores settle on deadwood of coniferous and deciduous species, but can infect living weakened trees. In Siberia, these fungi cause damage and rot wood in logging sites and warehouses.

Homeopathic preparations are made from bordered tinder fungi, they are actively used in Chinese traditional medicine.

The tinder fungus was seen by every resident of Russia live or at least in the photo. These are the same growths on trees that are found both in mixed forests of the middle belt and in old spruce forests. It turns out that this is not a useless mushroom at all. It is even edible and is used in cooking and traditional medicine. After reviewing the description various kinds, you can learn about medicinal properties and the use of tinder fungus.

Polypore sheep

This species is known as sheep mushroom. Of all the tinder fungi, it most of all looks like a classically shaped mushroom: a fleshy round cap with a folded edge and a short thick leg. Useful Components composed of:

  • griffolin;
  • grifolinon;
  • neogrifolin;
  • scootigeral;
  • ovinal;
  • ovinol, etc.

Sheep tinder is actively used in folk and traditional medicine. From young and ripe fruits make water and alcohol infusions, powders and extracts. They help to deal with such problems:

Trutovik is actively used in folk medicine

  1. Sarcoma and development cancer cells.
  2. Staphylococcus aureus.
  3. Hay stick.
  4. Elevated cholesterol.
  5. Pain.

Young sheep mushroom is also used in cooking. It is pickled and salted, dried and even eaten fresh.

Attention! Sheep polypore should not be eaten by people with gastrointestinal upset.

Polypore scaly

In the people, this mushroom is known under the names of the hare, pest, elm. Outwardly, they look like oyster mushrooms. Pestrets is a mushroom with a scaly beige or cream cap, which can reach 60 cm in diameter. Its flesh is dense, light, it smells good and tastes good. The hare leg is short, curved, velvety to the touch. Useful components in the composition:

  • lecithin;
  • vitamins A, B, B1, F, D and H.

Polypore scaly

In traditional medicine, it is used to create drugs to stimulate the gallbladder. In folk medicine, ointments are made from scaly tinder, with the help of which they treat:

  1. Osteochondrosis;
  2. arthrosis;
  3. Phlebeurysm.

In cooking, it is better to use only young people. This mushroom can be added to soups and sauces. Also, the pestry is pickled, salted, dried.

Polypore umbrella

Also known as the tinder fungus - this name was not accidental. His fruit tree has many small branches with a small thin hat at the tip. It seems that one big mushroom there are many, many small branches. This type of tinder contains:

  • vitamins;
  • trace elements;
  • polysaccharides;
  • active enzymes;
  • ergosterol;
  • biotin.

Polypore umbrella

In folk and traditional medicine, both the ground part of the fungus and the underground part are used. It is used like:

  1. Immunostimulator.
  2. Diuretic.
  3. Antioxidant.
  4. Medicine for cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis.
  5. Antibacterial and antiviral agent: to combat staphylococcus, chlamydia, malaria.
  6. Means for the fight against malignant tumors.
  7. Anti-radiation agent.
  8. Hair growth stimulator.

In cooking, the mushroom is dried, pickled, salted.

Tinder fungus

This mushroom can be found on old semi-dry trees and stumps. Because of its appearance, this tinder fungus is also called the rough-haired sponge. He has a large rough hat, very reminiscent of a sponge. The young mushroom has a yellow or grayish color, with age its hat becomes brown with green tint. The pulp of this tinder fungus is bitter, with an aniseed smell.

Tinder fungus

Like other types of tinder fungus, the stiff hair fungus is used in the treatment of cancer. In addition, it accelerates muscle regeneration, helps treat lung diseases, relieves fever. But in cooking, the hard-haired tinder fungus is not used.

Trutovik humpbacked

This type of tinder fungus grows on a tree. His velvety hat looks like a semicircle with greenish tint. Its flesh is dense, similar to a white or yellow cork.

Trutovik humpbacked

Trutovik humpback in its composition has useful polysaccharides that strengthen blood vessels. Also, this fungus is part of the drugs for sarcoma, carcinoma, throat cancer and leukemia. Modern research show the detrimental effect of this type of tinder fungus on the AIDS virus.

Attention! The tinder fungus is not eaten.

Mushrooms are a specific product with which a person always needs to be careful. But if you study the tinder fungus well, you can use all of it beneficial features for the benefit of health.

Useful properties of tinder fungus: video

Trutovik: photo




The tinder family - Polyporaceae

The real tinder fungus is a mushroom with a sessile perennial fruiting body, which is attached to the tree trunk by the top of the lateral part. The leg is missing. Young fruiting bodies are rounded; as they grow, the fruiting body acquires a hoof-like shape with a blunt, rounded edge. The fruiting body usually forms annular growth zones. Growth occurs downward - the youngest spore-bearing areas of the fruiting body are located on its lower part. The fruit body grows mainly in summer and early autumn, reaching the age of 30 years. The old fruit body reaches a size of up to 40 cm in width and 25 cm in height. The shape and color of the fruiting body varies depending on the growing conditions of the fungus. The surface of the cap is light gray or brown in color, becoming dark gray with age. The surface of the hymenophore is light cream, brown in old specimens. Pores in the amount of 4 ... 5 per millimeter. The fungus has a dense cuticle. On the cut, the flesh is dense, reddish-brown, fibrous. Spores 14...24x5...8 microns in size, abundantly formed in spring, to a lesser extent in autumn.

Spreading

The true tinder fungus has a circumpolar range. This fungus is ubiquitous in forests. temperate latitudes Europe, Asia and North America, as well as in the forests of North and South Africa.

habitat

Chemical composition

Biologically active substances in the present tinder fungus are being actively studied. The mushroom contains polysaccharides (beta-glucans) with anticancer and immunomodulating activity, saponins, tannins, polyphenols, sesquiterpenes. Like other perennial fungi, the real tinder fungus accumulates metals in high concentrations in the fruiting body - potassium, calcium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, lead, cadmium, germanium. For this reason, the mushroom should be collected away from highways and areas of industrial pollution. A high content of phosphorus, sulfur and iodine in the composition of the fruiting body was also noted.

During growth, the mycelium of the fungus actively secretes antibiotics into the environment, as well as enzymes that destroy lignin - laccase and peroxidase.

The mushroom contains fomentariol, a derivative of tropolone. Fomentariol, when treated with caustic potash, gives a blood-red color. This color reaction is used as diagnostic sign when identifying a fungus species, to distinguish it from species with similar morphology.

pharmachologic effect

In sight scientific medicine the real tinder fungus got relatively recently. The polysaccharides of the fungus have immunomodulatory and anticancer properties. The methanolic extract exhibits anti-inflammatory properties and reduces pain associated with noxious stimuli (exposures that exceed the normal perception threshold). An aqueous extract of the mushroom normalizes blood glucose levels and lipid metabolism, and also reduces the activity of the enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase, stimulates tissue respiration.

Application

Historically, in all likelihood, the tinder fungus began to be used not as medicinal mushroom, but as a material for the manufacture of tinder - a material that ignites easily when a spark hits it. This application is reflected in both Russian and Latin name mushroom, which has a similar meaning. Tinder was obtained from the inner fibrous part of the fungus, digesting the crushed mass in urine, and with the development of technology - in saltpeter, and then drying. Slowly smoldering tinder was used by the natives of North America not only to produce fire, but also to carry it to long distances. With the invention of flintlock guns, tinder was used as an "amplifier" of the spark to ignite gunpowder. The same fibrous material, but not impregnated with saltpeter, served in Europe as a material for making headdresses.

In medicine, tinder has been used since the time of Hippocrates as a material for hemostatic dressings. European surgeons and dentists used tinder in this capacity until the 19th century.

In European folk medicine, tinder was used as a hemostatic agent for painful periods and hemorrhoids.

In India, a decoction of tinder fungus was used as a diuretic, laxative and tonic. nervous system means.

In China, tinder decoction was used to treat cancer of the esophagus, stomach, and uterus.

In Siberia and Hokkaido, a dwelling was fumigated with a tinder fungus for ritual purposes in order to drive away evil spirits.

In modern European medicine, the tinder fungus is not used. In mycological reference books, the mushroom is classified as inedible.

In China, the true tinder fungus in combination with ganoderma and fomitopsis is part of the fees for the treatment nervous diseases and normalization of blood composition.

In Japan and Korea, tinder extract in combination with medicinal plants used as part of functional drinks for the prevention of cancer and diabetes.

In Southeast Asia, lignin-degrading enzymes tree mushrooms can help in the disposal of rice straw as feed for ruminants. Rice straw in its raw form has a low nutritional value due to high content lignin and silicon, as well as low content protein and vitamins. Existing physical and chemical methods for processing rice straw are unprofitable and / or unsafe for environment. As long as the case is held back high price enzyme preparations, but with the development of biotechnology, biological methods for processing rice straw can become cost-effective. There is interest in the use of fungal enzymes for the biodegradation of organic contaminants, the production of new dyes, and so on.

Tinder fungus laccases are enzymes with broad substrate specificity that catalyze the oxidation of phenolic compounds. The high stability of these enzymes, their ability to work in relatively mild conditions(without using extreme pH values, high concentrations salts, etc.) and resistance to inhibitory factors make laccases a very promising tool in biotechnology. Currently, methods are being developed for cultivating tinder fungus mycelium and isolating laccase enzyme preparations.

Tinder mushrooms are well-known mushrooms that cause distrust among many mushroom pickers. Actually there are edible, completely safe species, which can be cooked like regular mushrooms. And tinder fungi are used in medicinal purposes, so neglecting them is at least unreasonable.

Trutoviki - well-known mushrooms that cause distrust among many mushroom pickers

Trutovik is a fungus that belongs to the group from the Basidiomycetes department. This group itself is non-systematic - i.e. unite in it different types, which are similar in type of nutrition and lifestyle features, but at the same time they differ greatly in appearance, structure and reproduction characteristics. vernacular name- chaga mushroom. This is the name of a keratinized, hardened outgrowth, often found on birches and other deciduous trees.

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Trutovik is a real record holder in the kingdom of Mushrooms. Some representatives grow up to 1.6 meters in diameter, and weigh 5-6 kilograms.


Trutovik is a fungus that belongs to the group from the Basidiomycetes department.

Edible tinder fungus or not

This question can be answered unequivocally as follows: there are edible types of fungus, there are inedible ones, and the latter are the majority. At the same time, poisonous representatives cannot be distinguished among them - in fact, the pulp of the fungus is safe for humans, but in many species it is quite tough and is much inferior in taste to other mushrooms.

Before heading into the forest, you should take a good look at the photographs of edible species that quite tasty in different recipes (for more details - in the appropriate section):

  1. The fungus is sulfur yellow.
  2. Liverwort (common liverwort).
  3. Trutovik scaly (or motley).
  4. Trutovik umbrella.

NOTE

Since most tinder fungi are inedible or have a peculiar taste, you should not take those mushrooms that you are not sure about. One more thing important rule- you should not take mushrooms near roads and enterprises: they accumulate heavy metals and other harmful substances.


The tinder fungus literally sucks out water and nutritional components wood

What and how does the fungus tinder fungus eat

Different types of these fungi settle on tree trunks and in a few years penetrate into the mycelium processes. Thus, the tinder fungus literally sucks out water and nutrients from wood - it feeds on substances that are synthesized in a birch, aspen or other tree. As a result, it begins to die and rots after a few years.


The tinder fungus affects different types of trees

Description of the fruiting body of the tinder fungus

The fruiting bodies of different types of tinder fungi differ greatly in color. Many of them have a characteristic feature - as they grow, they become rigid and turn into completely hardened formations, similar to hoof-shaped outgrowths. The tinder fungus affects different types of trees - birch, aspen, alder, poplar, willow. However on coniferous plants is much less common- obviously, the resin of these trees inhibits the development of mycelium.

At present, the chemical composition of the fungus is not fully understood. However, it is well known that it contains quite a lot of useful substances for humans:

  • polysaccharides that inhibit the growth of cancer cells and strengthen the immune system;
  • saponins and polyphenols necessary for normal exchange substances;
  • tannins;
  • sexviterpenes.

Because of this, it is used as a treatment for:

Some recipes of traditional medicine are discussed in the appropriate section.


Killing old trees, tinder fungi make room in the forest for new ones.

What is dangerous tinder fungus for trees

For trees, the tinder fungus is harmful because it literally sucks water and organic matter out of the wood. The process has been going on for many years, so the effect is not immediately noticeable. As a result, the plant dries out and becomes brittle, as a result of which, after a small hurricane, it breaks and falls to the ground along with the tinder fungus, which continues to feed on it.

However, even such seemingly harmful activities bring benefits. By killing old trees, tinder fungi make room in the forest for new ones, and thus, in a sense, they can be considered forest orderlies. Useful mushroom and its chemical composition - many of its species are used in folk medicine for the treatment various diseases(more details in the relevant section).

How to cook tinder fungus (video)

The harm of tinder fungus to the human body

The tinder fungus does not pose a particular threat to human health, however, inedible species can be digested very hard and cause bloating, a feeling of heaviness, and even vomiting. Poisoning can be provoked only by those fruiting bodies that grow near roads and industrial production.

However, it is not recommended to eat mushrooms for those people who suffer from chronic diseases stomach and intestines, pregnant and lactating women. Also, you should not collect old representatives of edible species - they greatly lose their taste and become too tough with time, which is why most mushroom pickers dislike them.

Common types of tinder fungus

Currently, several dozen species of these fungi have been described. They are quite widespread, because in most cases they are unpretentious to living conditions - wherever they grow. enough deciduous trees, the tinder fungus will inevitably settle. These mushrooms are found in Russia from the European part to Siberia and the Far East, throughout Europe and the USA. They prefer a temperate climate, so they are not widely distributed in tropical latitudes.

Below are some of the species that are most commonly found in our country. First comes the edible varieties.

Gallery: tinder fungus (43 photos)

Polypore sulfur yellow

This species has a beautiful bright yellow color. It always grows in groups and is found in our country only in the European part. Most of all he likes to settle on oaks, cherries, poplars, mountain ash and beeches. Feature- the mushroom family resembles polyurethane foam frozen on the bark of a tree.

You can take mushrooms at once with a whole nest, and too large, it is better not to use old representatives. And one more important collection rule - if sulfur-yellow tinder fungi from deciduous trees are absolutely safe, then it is better not to collect them from coniferous trees - there is a slight chance of mild poisoning.

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In Germany and the USA, this species is considered a real delicacy: it is called "wild chicken" for its similarity in taste to fried chicken. And in Israel there is a farm that specifically grows this particular mushroom.


Polypore sulfur yellow

Common liverwort

The hat resembles a liver in color, which is why the mushroom got its name. He also prefers the climate European territory Russia, especially often settling under oaks or chestnuts.

Only young liverworts are eaten. It has a pleasant taste, with a slight sourness. Most often it is fried or stewed with onions and potatoes, like other mushrooms.

This species has a soft and rather thick hat. Unlike many other tinder fungus, it even has a leg, so it looks like an ordinary mushroom. Grows in the middle zone of our country. It is quite common in birch forests and grows even in the most unfavorable seasons due to its unpretentiousness.

However, mushroom pickers rarely take it as the flesh is quite tough. Most often it is consumed after a long boil.


Trutovik scaly (variegated)

Polypore umbrella

It is rare in our country, but in neighboring China it is a very popular mushroom. It has small fruiting bodies, which, however, always grow. big families. It got its name from the hat that resembles an umbrella.

Mostly prefers mild climate and oak, beech, hornbeam forests. Along with the hat, it has a leg that resembles a folded tube. IN Chinese cuisine it is consumed both fried and boiled.

Trutovik false

Unlike the real one, it is very tenaciously attached to the tree trunk. It has gray, beige and brown (sometimes rusty) shades of the fruiting body. This mushroom has no legs at all., and the hat is quite large - with age it reaches 25 cm in diameter.

Polypore lacquered

This mushroom has a very beautiful fruiting body, reminiscent of strongly brewed tea in color. Its surface is glossy and gleams in the sun, which gives the species its name. It is best known in China, Korea and Japan, where it has even been nicknamed the "mushroom of immortality" because extracts of this species are used in local folk medicine.


Polypore lacquered

Tinder fungus multicolored

Methods for preparing edible tinder fungus

You can cook tinder mushrooms like ordinary mushrooms. Here are some simple recipes.

Soup from scaly tinder fungus

This species can be used to make soup with dumplings. 300 g of finely chopped hats are boiled, brought to a boil and on low heat for half an hour. Then they are taken out and scrolled in a meat grinder, and dumplings, potatoes, herbs and spices are boiled in the broth - to taste. Chopped mushrooms are again introduced into the soup and brought to a boil, after which they are boiled over low heat for another quarter of an hour.

Sulfur yellow tinder salad

200 g of the mushroom is taken, boiled in salt water for an hour, cooled and cut. Sour cream, onion, vinegar or lemon are added to the salad, as well as salt and herbs to taste. You can increase the nutritional value of potatoes.


Tinder fungus multicolored

Fried liverwort

And this type of mushroom can be fried with onions and potatoes. But first it must be boiled for half an hour on low heat in salted water. Salt, herbs and spices are added to taste.

Mushroom tinder fungus in homeopathy and folk medicine

Tinder fungi are used for medical purposes internally and externally.

  1. For cooking alcohol tincture a tablespoon of chopped dry mushroom is taken, poured with a half-liter bottle of vodka and diluted with 2 glasses cold water. Infused very quickly - in 3-4 days.
  2. For a decoction, the same amount of mushroom is boiled in 2 glasses of water for half an hour, cooled and filtered. This decoction is used both internally and externally.

NOTE

Since the composition of many species of these mushrooms is not fully understood, a doctor's consultation before starting treatment is mandatory.

Useful properties of tinder fungus (video)

How to prevent infection of trees with tinder fungus

If in nature a tinder fungus is a forest orderly, then not a single gardener wants to see such a “helper” on his trees. To keep safe garden plants from an uninvited guest, there are several simple ways:

  1. Regular thorough inspection for foreign formations - young tinder fungi are much easier to separate from the trunk than old ones.
  2. It is better to impregnate any cuts on trees with fungicides, carbolic or blue vitriol- fungal spores penetrate mainly through open places.
  3. If a tinder fungus is found on a tree too late, it is better to remove it anyway so that the fungus does not produce spores that can infect other trees. In turn, all other trees must be immediately treated with fungicides.

Tinder fungi are both beneficial and harmful mushrooms at the same time. If you apply protection measures correctly and even just regularly monitor the trees, nothing threatens the garden - fruiting bodies develop rather slowly.

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Beveled tinder fungus in the photo

Beveled tinder fungus, chaga, basidioma: Inonotus obliquus (Pers.: Fr.) Polyporus obliquus (Pers.: Fr.), Boletus obliquus Pers. Annual basidiomas, widely procumbent, developing under the bark, up to 3–4 m long and 40–50 cm wide, soft leathery when fresh, later fibrous and cracking, hard and brittle when dry. The surface of the hymenophore is yellowish-brown, then brown.

The hyphal system of the beveled tinder fungus is monomitic. Spores are ellipsoid, hyaline, yellow with age, often with a drop of lipids 7–10 × 5–7 µm.

The development of a basidioma on the trunk of a living tree is usually preceded by the formation of sterile outgrowths up to 40–50 cm in diameter, jelly-like in shape, woody in texture, brown-brown or yellowish-brown-brown in color with white patches. The surface of the growths is uneven, cracking, black.

Distributed in Western Europe, Asia, North America, Australia.

Found on live and dead hardwood trunks. Causes white rot. Barren form - on living trunks of birch and alder.

Trutovik leafy in the photo

Trutovik leafy. This is one of the largest tinder fungi. Its fruit body reaches 1 m in diameter and weighs up to 20 kg. Appears at the end of summer at the base of trunks and stumps of old deciduous trees, especially oak. It is quite rare and not every year. The fruit body consists of numerous flat, thin, shapeless-wavy caps sitting on branching stumps that merge into a common base.

The caps are fleshy-leathery, wedge-shaped narrowed into a stem. Legs up to 10 cm long and up to 1 cm thick. From above, the caps are yellow-gray or grayish-brown, somewhat lighter towards the base. The underside of the caps is tubular, finely porous, white. The flesh is white, with strong pleasant smell.

The whole mushroom (cap and legs) is edible, the fourth category. It is used boiled, fried and for the preparation of mushroom powder.

Fruiting bodies grow very quickly. In 8-10 days they reach 10 kg or more, so even the most big mushrooms have young flesh, fully usable. Where this tinder fungus grows, the trees are always healthy, since this fruiting body does not settle in the affected areas and is never wormy.

Mushrooms tinder sulfur-yellow and birch

Polypore sulfur-yellow in the photo
The mushroom is edible young age

The fungus is sulfur yellow. Fruiting bodies 6-30 cm wide, at first thick cone-shaped, then semicircular or fan-shaped, imbricate, adherent sideways, fleshy, juicy, later dry and brittle, sulfur-yellow when young, later yellow-orange and finally ocher. The light yellow or pale ocher surface of the cap is covered with brown scales. On bottom side caps are angular and elongated, rather large pores of hymenophore. The tubular layer below is represented by small sulfur-yellow, later yellow-ocher pores. The pulp of young sulfur-yellow tinder mushrooms is soft, juicy, brittle, white color. The smell is weak, in old tinder fungus it is unpleasant, in young mushrooms it is lemony, the taste is sour.

Grows on trunks and stumps of deciduous and coniferous trees. Fruits in spring.

The description of this tinder fungus is so authentic that it is impossible to confuse it with other mushrooms.

Birch tinder in the photo
The pores are rounded, thick-walled.

Birch tinder. Fruiting bodies 4-20 cm in diameter, convex to almost flattened, 2-6 cm thick. The bark of young fruiting bodies is whitish, later gray, yellowish or pale brown. The fabric is white. The layer of tubules is separated from the tissue. The surface of the hymenophore is white, later turning slightly brown. The spore powder of the birch tinder fungus is white. Spores 4.5-6x1.2-1.5 µm, cylindrical, smooth, colorless.

Growth. It grows on dead, rarely alive, birches.

Fruiting. From July to December.

This is one of those tinder fungi that cause a yellowish-brown or reddish-brown rot of a destructive type, which develops intensively. The wood affected by this tinder fungus quickly collapses and becomes rotten. When infected, rotting first develops in the bark and sapwood, and from there quickly penetrates to the center of the trunk; mushroom caps develop final stages rotting wood. IN initial stages lesions on transverse cuts, rot appears as a complete or incomplete peripheral ring of wood with a reddish tinge, gradually turning into reddish-brown or yellowish-brown. Subsequently, cracks in the radial and tangential directions are noticed on the affected wood.

Polypore mushrooms real and winter

Trutovik real in the photo
The surface of a real tinder fungus with grooves

The tinder is real. Fruiting bodies up to 80 cm in diameter and up to 20–30 cm thick, perennial, hoof-shaped, often flat or, conversely, with a convex, almost hemispherical top, sometimes slightly elongated and almost conically narrowed upwards.

The surface of a real tinder fungus with concentric grooves, usually quite deep, at first soft velvety-hairy, then naked, almost smooth, in most cases gray to dark gray and blackish, less often reddish-pale brownish to dark gray-brown, edge obtuse, sometimes thick, grayish-reddish, finely pubescent. The fabric is reddish brown. The tubular layer is whitish, grayish, later grayish-red. Spore powder is white. Spores 14-24x5-8 microns, oblong-ellipsoid, smooth, colorless.

Growth. grows real tinder fungus throughout the year on stumps, dead wood and dead wood, occasionally on live weakened trees of deciduous species, mainly beech, birch, alder, poplar.

One of the most common mushrooms in the forests of Eastern Europe. Causes core light yellow rot with black lines and dashes. The decay caused by the fungus is one of the active ones and leads rather quickly to the destruction of the wood in the direction from the sapwood to the heartwood.

Tinder winter in the photo
Spore powder is white.

Trutovik winter. Cap 1-10 cm in diameter, covered with short hairs, glabrous with age, rough, sometimes indistinctly scaly, brownish, often with a yellowish tinge, with a fringed, and later bare margin. Leg 1–3.6x0.2–0.5 cm, eccentric, lateral, occasionally central, glabrous, one-color with a cap, black at the base. The tubular layer is whitish or straw-yellow, brownish when dried. The pulp is white. Spores 7-9x3-4 microns, ellipsoidal, fusiform, smooth, colorless.

Growth. The winter tinder fungus grows on branches, stumps, trunks of deciduous trees saprotrophically.

Fruiting. Appears mainly in autumn, hibernates, and cyorulates in spring.

Usage. The young fruiting bodies of this tinder fungus are edible.

Polypore mushrooms scaly and varnished: photo and description

Trutovik scaly in the photo
The pulp is dense, whitish

Trutovik scaly, pester, hare. The hat is 5-50 cm in diameter, 0.5-10 cm thick, whitish or cream, with large appressed brown scales, making it motley. The edge is usually more or less thin, often folded inwards. Leg 4-8x1-4 cm, whitish-cream, almost black at the base. The tubular layer is white. The flesh is whitish, with a pleasant powdery smell and taste. Spore powder is white. Spores 10-14x4–5(6) µm, oblong-ellipsoidal, smooth, colorless.

Growth. It grows on living and dead trunks and branches of fruit and broad-leaved trees.

Usage. Conditionally edible mushroom only at a young age (old mushrooms are tough).

Polypore varnished in the photo
reddish-purple hat

Trutovik varnished. Basidiomas are annual or 2-3-year-old with a hat and a stem. The cap is up to 25 cm in diameter and 1–3 cm thick, semicircular or kidney-shaped, covered with a shiny, as if varnished, reddish, then reddish-purple, dark red or chestnut-brown and, finally, almost black crust. Leg up to 15x1–2 cm, sometimes short, eccentric, less often lateral, covered with the same crust as the hat, the same color with the hat or almost black. Tubules 0.5–2 cm long, ocher with small and rounded pores.

As can be seen in the photo, in the lacquered tinder fungus, the surface of the tubular layer is whitish, creamy, then turns brown, and darkens when pressed:


The pulp is spongy-corky, hardening, white or light reddish. The hyphal system is trimitic. Spores 8–13x5.5–7.5 µm, ovate or almost oval, truncate at the apex, warty.

The area where this tinder fungus grows in Russia is very wide. It is distributed in the Far East (Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, Jewish Autonomous, Amur, Sakhalin, Magadan and Kamchatka Regions), in the European part, in the Urals, in Siberia; outside Russia - in Europe, Asia, North Africa, North America.

It grows in deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests on stumps and deadwood of spruce, fir, larch, birch, in July - August, in small groups and singly. The mushroom has medicinal properties. Grown in culture for food and medicinal purposes, maintained in pure culture in collections in many countries of the world, as well as in Russia.

limiting factors. Human economic activity, leading to the removal of deadwood, deforestation, forest fires.

Trutovik branched in the photo
Caps are leathery and fleshy

Trutovik branched. The fruit body is up to 50 cm in height, up to 40 cm in diameter and weighing up to 10 kg in a fresh state, consists of a central re-branching stem and numerous (up to 100) small flat caps. Hats are leathery-fleshy, 4-10 cm in diameter, on lateral legs, with uneven radially wrinkled hazel surface. Pores up to 1 mm in diameter. The central leg of the branched tinder fungus is short and thick, the secondary legs of various thicknesses are flat, grayish-cream after drying. The flesh is white, the color does not change at the break, with a pleasant smell and folded taste. Spore powder is white. Spores 7–10x2.5–4 µm, fusiform, smooth, colorless.

Causes white core rot with numerous small cavities that eventually fill with a white, cotton-like clump of mycelium.

Fruiting. From July to October.

Usage. Good edible mushroom.

Trutovik umbrella. In Russia, it is found in the European part, the Caucasus, Siberia and the Far East. Outside of Russia, it is distributed in Europe, Asia and North America.

Polypore fungus with large fruiting bodies, up to 50 cm in diameter, consisting of numerous branched, clearly visible legs, connected at the base into a common tuberous stump and bearing small caps. Hats are rounded, with a depression in the center, light ocher or brownish, smooth, on bottom surface they bear a tubular hymenophore descending onto a stalk. The pulp is white, dense, fleshy, with the smell of dill. Tubes are white, short. The stump and legs are white, cream or yellowish. Spores are colorless, smooth, cylindrical or fusiform, 7-10 x 3-4 microns. Causes white rot. Fruiting bodies are formed in July-August, but not annually.

It develops in broad-leaved and coniferous-broad-leaved forests at the base of trunks and stumps of deciduous trees (maple, oak, etc.), as an exception - conifers.

It is protected in the Kichmengsko-Gorodetsky nature reserve. It is necessary to search for new localities of the species and include them in the number of specially protected objects. The species is listed in the Red Books of the RSFSR and the Moscow Region.

Here you can see photos of edible and inedible tinder mushrooms, the description of which is presented on this page:

Conditionally edible mushroom Trutovik scaly in the photo

Edible mushroom "winter" in the photo

Tinder fungi changeable and sheep

Polypore changeable in the photo
The skin is smooth, golden yellow or light brown

The fungus is changeable. The cap is 3–8 cm in diameter, regularly rounded or tongue-shaped, depressed at the point of attachment of the stem, often with a margin divided into lobes. The skin is golden yellow or light brown, with fine radial fibers at maturity. The tubular layer is descending, white or light cream in color. The pulp is hard, white or brown, the taste is mild, the smell is mushroom.

Leg. Diameter 0.5–1 cm, short, eccentric, lateral or central, light brown, eventually almost black.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On dead hardwood.

Season. Spring - autumn.

similarity. At a young age, the variable tinder fungus looks like a scaly tinder fungus, but the cap of P. squamosus is covered with large scales.

Use. The mushroom is not poisonous, but because of the hard pulp it is not eaten.

Trutovik sheep in the photo
Albatrellus sheep in the photo

Sheep tinder fungus, Sheep albatrellus, Sheep rudd. Hat up to 12 cm in diameter, convex or flat, smooth or fissured. Color whitish or yellowish. Small tubules are white or yellowish, turn yellow when pressed. The pulp of young mushrooms is juicy, white, with a pleasant smell and taste, while the pulp of old mushrooms is dry, bitter.

Leg. The height of the sheep tinder fungus is 2–7 cm, diameter is up to 4 cm, central or eccentric, solid, white.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. In coniferous forests, forms mycorrhiza with spruce.

Season. Summer autumn.

similarity. With albatrellus merging (A. confluens), which has fawn or ocher hats and forms close groups, and also grows under various conifers.

Use. All types of albatrellus are edible, but have tough flesh.

Below you can find photos, descriptions and videos of other tinder fungi.

Trutoviki bordered and bristly: photo, video and description

Trutovik bordered in the photo
"Wood sponge" in the photo

Trutovik bordered, or woody sponge. The fruit body varies greatly in shape, size and color. It can be hoof-shaped, cantilever, horseshoe-shaped. Outside surface hard, covered with a thick crust, shiny with resinous substances, on which concentric zones are located. Young bordered tinder fungus orange-yellow or red-brown, later the color becomes dark gray, blackish. The presence of a border along the edge, which differs in color, is characteristic. The edge is dull. Pores pale yellow. The flesh is white or yellowish-buff, the smell is sour.

Spore powder is light cream.

Habitat. On dead trunks of coniferous, rarely deciduous trees; almost never found on live trunks.

Season. During the whole year.

similarity. Young fruiting bodies can be confused with varnished tinder fungus (Ganoderma lucidum), which is distinguished by the presence of a stem and growth on hardwoods.

Use. Inedible.

Trutovik bristly in the photo
Skin creamy yellow

Trutovik bristly. Hat with a diameter of 2-10 cm, in the form of a semicircle or circle, depressed in the center. The skin is creamy yellow, densely covered with scales of darker tones. The tubules are short, descending, fawn or ocher-cream.

As you can see in the photo, this edible mushroom tinder pulp white, hard:


The taste is sweet, the smell is pleasant.

Leg. Height 5–6 cm, diameter up to 1.5 cm, eccentric, fawn, covered with white bristles.

Spore powder. White.

Habitat. On dead branches of deciduous trees.

Season. Spring.

Use. Edible at a young age.

Watch the video "Tinder Mushrooms" to better understand how and where they grow:

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