The Cinnabar Polypore

This fungus, cinnabar polypore (Pycnoporus cinnabarinus), prefers warm, sunny, exposed surfaces of dead decidous trees. Its cinnabar-red coloration catches the eye, providing a welcome color contrast in woods or swamps.

Polypores have three features that, in combination, make them distinct:

1. They nearly all grow on wood, such as trees, logs, stumps, or buried wood. That's because these fungi are either decomposers or parasites, or both.
2. Polypores are generally shaped like shelves, not like umbrellas (although some are crust-like). If there's a stem, it's usually short and off-center.
3. Polypores all have many tiny holes, or pores, on the undersides of their caps (polypore means many pores). Microscopic spores emerge from these pores. You can usually see the pores (but not the spores) with the naked eye, but sometimes they're so small, you'll need a magnifying glass or loupe to see them.

Today's photo was taken by WPC Volunteer James Kirby.

Some reference material from econetwork.net.

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