The Fungi World (117) : Chicken of the Woods

A typical fungus that can be found from late spring.
This year however, the ‘chickens’ were quite early. I spotted the first growth of this specimen already in april and now it’s nearly fully grown.

Chicken of the Woods is most commonly growing on wounds of trees (mostly oak).
It produces however heavy red-brown rot in the host on which it grows and this nearly always ends in the collapse of the host tree as it can no longer flex and bend in the wind.

It can be prepared in most ways that one can prepare chicken meat and can also be used as a substitute for chicken in a vegetarian diet (hence its English name).

Dutch name : Zwavelzwam
German name : Schwefelporling
Latin name : Laetiporus sulphureus

Another specimen of this fabulous species can be seen here[fc-foto:18866157]