A dead Phellinus igniarius on a poplar tree
.
Commonly known as the willow bracket, fire sponge, false tinder polypore, punk ash polypore or false tinder conk
.
Many Alaskan Yupik grind it up and mix it with tobacco to make iqmik, for the added kiq
.
The alqaline qompounds in the iqmik make niqotine more absorbable
.
The Yupik believe it isn't as bad for you as the tobacco chaw at the store
.
No thanks, to both
Another saprobic fire sponge bracket
.
This one is alive and sporulating
.
P. igniarius is a white rot fungus, it breaks down both lignin and cellulose
Yet another willow bracket, this one on a fallen poplar
.
You can see how it shifted it's orientation to be parallel to the ground after the tree went down
.
They're good as fire starters
.
Burning them keeps mosquitoes and biting flies away
The pore surface of a fire sponge.
The snow was nearly gone, so I went for a walk and bumped into an old friend, the fire sponge
.
#mushroom #mushrooms #polypore #wildmushrooms