Cauliflower fungus or Dyer's mazegill

The fruiting body forms a large, fluffy “head” 10–30 cm across, sometimes up to 50 cm and 5 kg. It's built from countless flat, wavy, curly lobes, or “petals,” branching off a short common trunk. Young ones are white or cream, turning yellow to brownish-ochre with age; on old mushrooms the lobe edges darken and dry out.

The fruit body is round, fan-shaped or a rosette, flat or shallowly funnel-shaped and often lobed, 10 to 30 cm across and 1 to 5 cm thick. It can grow in two or three tiers or as several fused together, and it engulfs needles, twigs and grass.

The surface is velvety or felty, later almost bald, lumpy and concentrically zoned. Young ones are sulphur yellow to orange; then the centre turns rusty to dark brown while the rim stays bright yellow for a while. Old ones are dark brown to almost black, dry and light.

The spore-bearing layer is smooth and sits on the lower (concave) surface of the “petals.” No gills, no tubes. The spore print is white.

The pores are large and irregular, 1 to 3 per mm, angular and wavy like a maze. They're yellow, greenish yellow or olive at first, then rusty and dark brown, and darken when touched. The tubes are shallow, usually under 1 cm, and often run down the stem.

The spore print is whitish to pale yellow.

There's no stem in the usual sense, just a short, thick trunk-like base sunk into the root or stump it grows from. The visible part is 3–8 cm, and the curly lobes spread out from it.

The stem is short and thick, up to 6 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide, brown and velvety, central or off-centre and tapering downwards. On stumps the bracket can have no stem.

In young mushrooms the flesh is white, dense, springy and brittle. With age it turns tough and waxy, and in very old ones it's like dry cardboard. Only young ones are fit to eat: white, clean and free of brown spots.

Young flesh is soft, spongy, wet and yellow-orange to rusty. Old flesh is dry, fibrous or corky, brittle and very light.

The smell is distinct and pleasantly nutty, with notes of forest litter and fresh wild berries: one of the nicest aromas of any European mushroom. The taste is mild and slightly sweet.

There's no noticeable smell.