Artist's bracket or Tinder fungus

Fruiting body 10-50 cm across (sometimes up to 70 cm), flat and spreading, fan-shaped or semicircular, attached sideways to the substrate (the trunk of a broadleaf tree). No stem. The upper surface is hard and corky, with clear concentric zones of annual growth, each zone marking a separate year of life. Color brownish gray, olive gray, with a rusty coating of spores in mature specimens. The margin is whitish when young and darkens with age.

The fruiting body is 5-50 cm across (sometimes up to 70+), hoof-shaped to semi-hoof-shaped, attached sideways to the substrate. No stem. The upper surface is hard and corky, with distinct concentric zones of annual growth, each zone marking a separate year of life. Color: gray-brown, gray, olive-gray; in old ones dark gray to blackish. Old fruiting bodies often have cracks in the crust.

Tubular hymenophore — tiny white pores on the underside (4-6 pores/mm). Color whitish cream, turns distinctly dark when pressed or scratched — a key diagnostic feature. Spore print rusty brown (often visible as a rusty coating around the fruiting body on the trunk).

Tube layer — fine, pale gray-brown pores on the underside (3-4 pores/mm). Color: gray-brown to brown. Spore print: white to pale cream.

No stem. The fruiting body is attached to the substrate by its side edge.

No stem.

Flesh very tough, corky-fibrous, brownish chestnut, leathery and hard as wood. Not usable in cooking. Faint woody smell.

Flesh: very tough, corky-fibrous, rusty brown, leathery, hard as wood. Useless in the kitchen. Smell: faint, neutral.

Faintly woody, nothing distinctive.

Faint and neutral, nothing distinctive.