Cerioporus squamosus

What You Should Know

Cerioporus squamosus is a type of mushroom that grows on trees and dead logs in North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. It has a yellow-brown color and scaly structures on its surface. Spores are produced underneath the cap, which grows from tube-like structures. It can cause damage to certain tree species by causing white rot. The mushroom is best harvested when it is young and fresh, as it can become infested with maggots and become tough and inedible with age. The mushroom has a mild nutty flavor and smells like watermelon rind. It can look like a saddle when growing on the trunks of certain trees or emerge from the soil near tree roots.

The scaly structures on the mushroom's surface are called "squamules." They are actually a layer of tissue that covers the cap and helps protect it from damage. The tubes that produce spores underneath the cap are called "pores." In Cerioporus squamosus, the pores are very small and often difficult to see without a magnifying glass.

While this mushroom is generally considered edible, some people may experience digestive upset after eating it. It's always a good idea to try a small amount of any new mushroom first to see how your body reacts. In addition to its culinary and medicinal uses, Cerioporus squamosus has been studied for its potential as a source of bioactive compounds with antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Cerioporus squamosus is sometimes used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments, including indigestion, arthritis, and even cancer. However, there is very little scientific evidence to support these uses.

Other names: Dryad's Saddle, Scaly Polypore, Pheasant's Back, Hawk’s Wing, German (Schuppiger Porling), Czech Republic (Choroš šupinatý), France (Le polypore écailleux).

Cerioporus squamosus Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   5.91 to 11.81 inches (15 to 30 cm) across; 0.39 to 1.57 inches (1 to 4 cm) thick; variable in outline but generally semicircular, kidney-shaped, or fan-shaped; broadly convex, becoming flat, shallowly depressed, or deeply depressed; dry; pale tan to creamy yellowish, with an overlay of large, flattened, brown to blackish scales that are vaguely radially arranged; in old age sometimes whitish with reddish to black scales, or developing a black area over the center; the thin margin initially incurved, later even.

2. Pore Surface

   Running down the stem; whitish to creamy, becoming yellowish with old age; not bruising; pores large at maturity, angular, and frequently irregular; tube layer up to 0.59 inches (1.5 cm) deep, not readily separable as a layer.

3. Stem

   0.79 to 3.15 inches (2 to 8 cm) long; 0.39 to 1.57 inches (1 to 4 cm) thick; usually off-center or lateral; whitish above, but soon becoming covered, from the base up, with a velvety, dark brown to black tomentum; solid.

4. Flesh

   Thick; soft when young but soon becoming corky and tough, especially in the stem; white; unchanging when sliced.

5. Odor and Taste

   Strongly mealy.

6. Spore Print

   White.

7. Habitat

   Saprobic on decaying hardwood logs and stumps, and parasitic on living hardwoods (in the Midwest and eastern North America it is found on a wide variety of hardwoods, but it is especially fond of silver maple and box elder; in western North America it appears primarily on quaking aspen); causing a white heartrot; growing alone or, more often, in clusters of two or three; annual; typically found in spring, but also sometimes found in summer and fall (even in winter, during warm spells); widely distributed in North America but much more common east of the Rocky Mountains.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 11–15 x 4–5 µm; subcylindric to long-ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Hymenial cystidia absent. Hyphal system dimitic.

Cerioporus squamosus Look-Alikes

1. Polyporus tuberaster

   May look similar. It grows on the west coast of the U.S. and across most of mainland Europe and some parts of Asia. It also has an ochre scaly cap, but grows from a large, black, tuberlike structure and is round rather than kidney-shaped.

2. Piptoporus betulinus

   It grows exclusively on birch and lacks the "scales".

3. Polyporus mcmurphyi

   Has smaller pores and a whitish stem.

Cerioporus squamosus Cooking Notes

These mushrooms are delicious when they're young and tender, but they become tough and inedible as they age, similar to chicken of the woods mushrooms. To prepare them for cooking, cut off the black stem (if present) and scrape away the pores on the underside of the cap. Slicing them very thin with a mandoline slicer is best, as their firm texture makes them resilient. You can cook them in a covered pan with butter, salt, and a little liquid like water, wine, or stock until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms brown slightly.

Cerioporus squamosus Taxonomy and Etymology

In 1778 English botanist William Hudson described this species and named it Boletus squamosus. In 1886 Quélet give its current name "Polyporus Squamosus". The common name Polyporus means "many pores," and fungi in this genus have tubes that end in pores (often very small and many). The special epithet squamosus means scaly it refers to an unusual pattern of large brown scales on its surface.

Cerioporus squamosus Synonyms and Varietes

• Agarico-pulpa ulmi Paulet, Traité des champignons 2:102, pl. 16:1-2 (1793)

• Agaricus favosus (Linnaeus) Lamarck (1783), Encyclopédie méthodique, Botanique, 1, p. 50

• Boletus cellulosus Lightfoot (1777), Flora scotica, 2, p. 1032

• Boletus favus Linnaeus (1763), Species plantarum exhibentes plantas rite cognitas ad genera relatas, Edn 2, 2, p. 1645

• Boletus iuglandis Schaeff., 1774

• Boletus juglandinus J.J. Planer (1788), Index plantarum quas in agro erfurtensi sponte provenientes, p. 281

• Boletus juglandis Schaeff., Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur Icones 4:75, pl. 101-102 (1774)

• Boletus maximus Schumach., Enumeratio Plantarum, in Partibus Sællandiae Septentrionalis et Orientalis Crescentium 2:381 (1803)

• Boletus michelii (Fr.) Pollini

• Boletus platyporus Persoon (1794), in Römer, Neues magazin für die botanik, 1, p. 107

• Boletus polymorphus Bulliard (1782), Herbier de la France, 3, tab. 114

• Boletus rangiferinus Bolton, An History of Fungusses, Growing about Halifax 3:138 (1790)

• Boletus squamosus Hudson (1778), Flora Anglica, Edn 2, p. 626 (Basionyme) Sanctionnement : Fries (1821)

• Boletus subsquamosus Batsch (1783), Elenchus fungorum, p. 97, tab. 10, fig. 41

• Bresadolia caucasica Shestunov (1910), in Magnus, Hedwigia, 50, p. 100

• Bresadolia paradoxa Speg., Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina 16 (6):277 (1883)

• Bresadolia squamosa (Hudson) Teixeira (1986), Revista Brasileira de Botânica, 9(1), p. 43

• Cerioporus boucheanus (Klotzsch) Quélet (1886), Enchiridion fungorum in Europa media et praesertim in Gallia vigentium, p. 167

• Cerioporus rostkovii (Fries) Quélet (1886), Enchiridion fungorum in Europa media et praesertim in Gallia vigentium, p. 167

• Cerioporus squamosus (Hudson) Quélet (1886), Enchiridion fungorum in Europa media et praesertim in Gallia vigentium, p. 167

• Favolus boucheanus Klotzsch (1833), Linnaea, Ein journal für die botanik, 8, p. 316, tab. 5

• Favolus squamosus (Huds.) Ames, Annales Mycologici 11 (3):241 (1913)

• Grifola platypora (Persoon) Gray (1821), A natural arrangement of British plants, 1, p. 643

• Hexagonia sinensis (Fries) Fries (1851), Nova acta regiae Societatis scientiarum Upsaliensis, series 3, 1, p. 100

• Leucoporus lepidus Pat., Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France 33:52 (1917)

• Melanopus coronatus (Rostkovius) Bourdot & Galzin (1925), Bulletin de la Société mycologique de France, 41, p. 108

• Melanopus squamosus (Hudson) Patouillard (1887), Les hyménomycètes d'Europe, anatomie générale et classification des champignons supérieurs, p. 137

• Polyporellus boucheanus (Klotzsch) P. Karsten (1882), Bidrag till kännedom af Finlands natur och folk, 37, p. 30

• Polyporellus rostkovii (Fries) P. Karsten (1879), Meddelanden af societas pro fauna et flora fennica, 5, p. 38

• Polyporellus squamatus (Lloyd) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 55

• Polyporellus squamosus f. clusiana (Britzelmayr) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 49

• Polyporellus squamosus f. coronatus (Rostkovius) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 50

• Polyporellus squamosus f. helopus (Hariot & Patouillard) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 54

• Polyporellus squamosus f. michelii (Fries) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 53

• Polyporellus squamosus f. pallidus (Schulzer) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 50

• Polyporellus squamosus f. rostkovii (Fries) Pilát (1936), Beihefte zum botanischen centralblatt, zweite abteilung, 56(1-2), p. 53

• Polyporus alpinus Saut., Hedwigia 15:33 (1876)

• Polyporus boucheanus (Klotzsch) Fries (1838) [1836-38], Epicrisis systematis mycologici, p. 438

• Polyporus caudicinus Murrill 1903

• Polyporus clusianus Britzelmayr (1894), Bericht des naturwissenschaftlichen vereins für schwaben und Neuburg, 31, p. 174, fig. 158

• Polyporus coronatus Rostkovius (1848), in Sturm, Deutschlands flora, Abt. III, die pilze Deutschlands, 6(28), p. 33, tab. 17

• Polyporus dissectus Letell., Hist. Descr. Champ.:48 (1826)

• Polyporus favolus juglandis Secretan (1833), Mycographie Suisse, 3, p. 49

• Polyporus flabelliformis Pers., Mycologia Europaea 2:53 (1825)

• Polyporus infundibiliformis Rostk., Deutschlands Flora, Abt. III. Die Pilze Deutschlands 4-10:37, t. 17 (1830)

• Polyporus juglandis (Schaeffer) Persoon (1825), Mycologia europaea, seu complet omnium fungorum in variis europaeae regionibus detectorum enumeratio, 2, p. 38

• Polyporus mcmurphyi Murrill (1915), Western Polypores, p. 12

• Polyporus michelii Fries (1821), Systema mycologicum, 1, p. 343

• Polyporus pallidus Schulzer (1874), in Fries, Hymenomycetes europaei sive epicriseos systematis mycologici, p. 533

• Polyporus platyporus (Persoon) Secretan (1833), Mycographie Suisse, 3, p. 50

• Polyporus retirugis (Bres.) Ryvarden, A preliminary polypore flora of East Africa, 502 (1980)

• Polyporus rostkovii Fries (1838) [1836-38], Epicrisis systematis mycologici, p. 439

• Polyporus sinensis Fries (1821), Systema mycologicum, 1, p. 345

• Polyporus squamatus Lloyd (1911), Mycological writings, 3, synopsis of the section Ovinus of Polyporus, p. 84, fig. 505

• Polyporus squamosus (Hudson) Fries (1821), Systema mycologicum, 1, p. 343

• Polyporus squamosus f. michelii (Fries) Bondartsev (1953), Bracket Fungi Europ. USSR & Caucasus, p. 441

• Polyporus squamosus f. rostkovii (Fries) Bondartsev (1953), Bracket Fungi Europ. USSR & Caucasus, p. 440

• Polyporus squamosus var. maculatus Velen., Ceske Houby 4-5:664 (1922)

• Polyporus squamosus var. polymorphus (Bulliard) P.W. Graff (1936), Mycologia, 28(2), p. 163

• Polyporus tigrinus Persoon (1825), Mycologia europaea, seu complet omnium fungorum in variis europaeae regionibus detectorum enumeratio, 2, p. 54

• Polyporus ulmi Paulet (1808) [1793], Traité des champignons, 2, p. 99, tab. 13

• Polyporus westii Murrill (1938), Bulletin of the Torrey botanical Club, 65, p. 651

• Scenidium sinensis (Fries) Kuntze (1898), Revisio generum plantarum, 3, p. 516

• Trametes retirugus Bres., Atti della Reale Accademia degli Agiati di Rovereto 11:6 (1893)

• Trametes sinensis (Fries) Fries (1838) [1836-38], Epicrisis systematis mycologici, p. 489

Cerioporus squamosus Video

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