Oak bracket or Shaggy bracket
Oak bracket and Shaggy bracket are similar species that can be mixed up while foraging. The main visible difference: smell: Oak bracket — unpleasant, Shaggy bracket — odourless. The mushrooms also differ in the following features: size.
Not sure? Identify by photoSide by side
| Characteristic | Oak bracket | Shaggy bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Oak bracket: Giant (>25 cm) | Shaggy bracket: Large (over 15 cm) |
| Cap colour | Oak bracket: Cream, Orange, Rusty, Brown | Shaggy bracket: Orange, Rusty, Brown, Black |
| Cap surface | Oak bracket: Velvety | Shaggy bracket: Velvety, Fibrous |
| Taste | Oak bracket: Bitter | Shaggy bracket: — |
| Smell | Oak bracket: Unpleasant | Shaggy bracket: Odourless |
| Partner trees | Oak bracket: Oak, Beech, Birch, Alder | Shaggy bracket: Ash, Maple, Oak |
Same in both: edibility class, season, use, cap shape, flesh colour change, hymenophore, stem, substrate, nutrition type, growth habit.
When and where they meet
Together: June–October
What they look like
Cap, Hymenophore, Stem, Flesh, Smell
Cap
Oak bracket
The fruit body has no stem and forms a thick cushion, half-moon or shapeless lump, 10 to 30 cm across, occasionally 40 cm, and 5 to 15 cm thick. It often grows in several tiers.
Young brackets are cream, buff or yellowish and finely velvety, with a thick, rounded margin that weeps amber drops. Later they turn rusty brown, bald and lumpy, pitted where the drops have dried, and finally almost black and cracked.
Shaggy bracket
There's no stem: the bracket is broadly attached, semicircular, hoof-shaped or cushion-like, 10 to 25 cm across, sometimes up to 35 cm, and up to 10 cm thick. It grows singly or in tiers of two or three. The margin is thick and rounded when young, becoming thinner.
Young brackets are bright rusty orange to reddish yellow on top, densely velvety and bristly. Later they turn rusty to dark brown, almost bald, rough and cracked, and finally black, hard and brittle. Old brackets often hang on the tree all winter, and when they fall they leave a blackish mark on the bark.
Hymenophore
Oak bracket
The tube layer is up to 2 cm deep. The pores are tiny, round then angular, 4 to 6 per mm, cream-yellow to greyish, later ochre and brown, and slowly bruise brown. Drops can form on the pores too.
The spore print is pale, whitish to yellowish.
Shaggy bracket
The pores are cream to yellowish brown, later rusty, 2 to 3 per mm, and darken when touched. The tubes can be a few centimetres long. Young brackets sometimes weep clear, yellowish or reddish droplets from the pores and margin.
Sources disagree on the spore print colour: from whitish to yellowish brown.
Stem
Oak bracket
There's no stem: the bracket sits directly on the trunk base, root flare or roots.
Shaggy bracket
There's no stem: the bracket is broadly attached to the trunk or branch.
Flesh
Oak bracket
The flesh is yellow-brown, rusty or reddish brown, zoned and up to 10 cm thick. It's soft, spongy, fibrous and wet when young, then corky.
Shaggy bracket
Young flesh is soft, spongy, wet and radially fibrous, yellowish ochre to light brown. Old flesh is dry, hard, brittle and dark brown to almost black. It turns black with KOH.
Smell
Oak bracket
Old fruit bodies have a strong, unpleasant smell. The taste is bitter.
Shaggy bracket
The smell is indistinct.
Related comparisons
Sources · 23
- [1]Index Fungorum
- [2]GBIF
- [3]Wikipedia (English)
- [4]First Nature: Pseudoinonotus dryadeus, Oak Bracket
- [5]First Nature: Inonotus hispidus, Shaggy Bracket
- [6]First Nature: Ganoderma resinaceum, Lacquered Bracket
- [7]Kuo M., MushroomExpert: Inonotus dryadeus
- [8]Bonkowski J. Inonotus dryadeus: butt and root rot of oaks. Purdue Landscape Report, 2023
- [9]Gale Tree Consultancy: Tree Condition Report TCR/643/25, sessile oak, Plaistow and Ifold (2025)
- [10]Тишко-Хмеловец П., Куява А. Гриби на деревах. Посібник для інспекторів стану дерев. Чернівці, 2023, Тишко-Хмеловец П., Куява А. (2023)
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- [12]Решетник Л. Л. Поширеність дереворуйнівних грибів у листяних насадженнях (Вовківське лісництво ДП «Борщівське лісове господарство»). Науковий вісник НУБіП, 2015, Решетник Л. Л. (2015)
- [13]Store norske leksikon (Ryvarden L.): tårekjuke
- [14]Cateni F. et al. Antioxidant activity of compounds from Inonotus dryadeus. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, 2015, 17(7), Cateni F. et al. (2015)
- [15]NBN Atlas: Pseudoinonotus dryadeus, записи за місяцями
- [16]Википедия (русская)
- [17]NatureSpot: Shaggy Bracket
- [18]BioImages: Inonotus hispidus
- [19]Шульга В. М. Світ грибів України: Інонот щетинисто-волосистий (архівна копія)
- [20]Radulović Z., Karadžić D., Milenković I. Inonotus hispidus: bioecological characteristics, significance and possibility of use for medical purposes. Glasnik Šumarskog fakulteta, 2024, Radulović Z., Karadžić D., Milenković I. (2024)
- [21]Wang Z.-X. et al. Diverse metabolites and pharmacological effects from the basidiomycetes Inonotus hispidus. Antibiotics, 2022, 11(8): 1097, Wang Z.-X. et al. (2022)
- [22]NAMA: A short selection of the best mushrooms for color
- [23]GBIF: знахідки Inonotus hispidus в Україні