''Fomitopsis quercina'' is a species of mushroom in the order
Polyporales
The Polyporales are an order (biology), order of about 1,800 species of fungi in the division (mycology), division Basidiomycota. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the ge ...
. Commonly known as the thick-walled maze polypore,
maze-gill fungus oak-loving maze polypore, or oak mazegill, the
specific epithet
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
refers to the oak genus ''
Quercus
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
'', upon which it frequently grows, causing a
brown rot. It is found in Eurasia, Northern Africa and
Australasia
Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
. Though inedible, it can be used as a natural comb and has been the subject of chemical research.
Taxonomy
Having previously been in the genus ''
Daedalea,'' it was transferred to the new genus ''
Fomitopsis
''Fomitopsis'' is a genus of more than 40 species of bracket fungi in the family Fomitopsidaceae.
Taxonomy
The genus was circumscribed by Finnish mycologist Petter Karsten in 1881 with '' Fomitopsis pinicola'' as the type species. Molecular an ...
'' in 2024, based on molecular
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
data. The newly proposed name is ''Fomitopsis quercina''
(L.) Spirin & Miettinen (2024).
Description
The
sessile, fan-shaped fruiting bodies are typically wide and up to 8 cm thick.
They are found singly or in tiered groups, usually on rotting oak. The upper surface of the cap may be various shades of brown, and is sometimes