Page Created by Connecticut Foraging Club
Upcoming Events | Meet the Instructors | Plant Archive | Mushroom Archive
----------------
Upcoming Events | Meet the Instructors | Plant Archive | Mushroom Archive
----------------
The American Brown Fomitopsis (Fomitopsis ochracea) is a polypore that was recently classified in 2011. Before this time, the mushroom was misidentified as multiple other mushroom species, including the Red-belted Polypore (Fomitopsis pinicola).
The American brown Fomitopsis causes brown rot on hardwoods and conifers, particularly on birch and Populus species. The cap surface is smooth and colored white, gray, brown, or black. The pore surface is creamy white.
The Red-belted polypore differs from the American brown Fomitopsis by having a red/orange band on its cap. The Red-belted polypore also bruises yellow when broken open.
Although there is no research on the medicinal compounds of this newly identified mushroom, different Fomitopsis species have been used medicinally for thousands of years. The Agarikon mushroom (Fomitopsis officinalis) has been used in the treatment of cancer, Herpes, and flu. The Red-belted polypore (Fomitopsis pinicola) has been used for its anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulating effects.
--
Written by Amy Demers, founder of the Connecticut Foraging Club. To learn more about foraging in Connecticut, check out our upcoming classes.
