Beefsteak fungus or Chicken of the woods

The fruiting body is tongue-shaped or fan-shaped, side-attached, joined to the substrate by a short lateral outgrowth. Size 10–20 cm (sometimes up to 30) across, 2–6 cm thick. The color is bright red, purplish red, dark blood-red; young mushrooms have pink and orange tints, old ones are dark brownish red. The surface is rough and coarse, with tiny papillae.

The fruiting body is bushy, with 5-30 overlapping fan-shaped caps on a common base. Individual caps are 10-30 cm across, 6-30 cm tall, flat and spreading, fan-shaped, fleshy. The surface is smooth or with fine felty fibers; in young ones it's glowing yellow-orange, like fresh sulphur, glossy in wet weather. Color: strikingly sulphur-yellow to orange-yellow, with a characteristic shift from a rich orange center to a yellow or cream margin. In old ones it fades to pale yellow and cream.

The hymenophore is tubular, but unique among all mushrooms: each tube stands separately, not fused to its neighbors — like a bundle of thin tubes. Yellowish at first, then reddish brown. The pores are small and round. They darken when pressed.

Tube layer — fine sulphur-yellow pores on the underside (2-4 pores/mm). Color: sulphur-yellow to orange. Spore print: white.

There is no stem, or it is very short and lateral, a small outgrowth at the base of the fruiting body. The mushroom attaches directly to the tree bark.

No distinct stem — the caps attach to the substrate by a broad base or a short lateral stem.

The flesh is very juicy, filled with a clear red liquid, with whitish veins (hence the comparison with liver). The texture is fibrous, like muscle meat. The cut surface shows a marbled pattern. In old mushrooms it becomes tough and sour.

Flesh: in young ones: tender, meaty, juicy, cream-yellow, characteristically reminiscent of chicken breast. In old ones: tough, leathery, fibrous, inedible. It doesn't change color when cut. Smell: characteristic, sourish-fruity-mushroomy with a hint of fresh cucumber, taste: mild, delicately mushroomy with a hint of chicken.

Smell faint, sourish, with a note of fresh oak inner bark. Taste distinctive — sourish, with a lemony, meaty tinge. A slight acidity is a normal trait of the species.

Characteristic sourish-fruity with a hint of fresh cucumber — a recognizable feature.