Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Hymenochaetales
Family: Hymenochaetaceae
Genus: Fomitiporia
Species: F. robusta
Binomial name: Fomitiporia robusta
Synonym: Phellinus robustus
Fomitiporia robusta is a common wood-decaying fungus which lives on dead and living trees. On living indigenous hardwoods such as Dysoxylum spectabile (Kohekohe) and Nothofagus (Beech), it causes heart rot with enzymes that break down wood components such as lignin and cellulose.
The rounded perennial fruiting bodies of Fomitiporia robusta can reach an age of 15 to 20 years and are bracket-shaped and very hard. The crust of the upper side is black (there may be a fine velvet coating on the upper surface) and concentrically zoned. The flesh is tough and woody and brown in colour. Its hymenium (fertile layer) is in vertical pores on the underside of the cap. On living trees, the fruiting bodies usually grow at a height of several metres.
A Fomitiporia robusta fruiting body This one is growing high up on the trunk of a beech tree planted by Keith Adams 1952 Position Lat 39 3'36.782'S Long 174 5'40.108 Datum WGS 84
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