chrismckenna's Identifications

Mushroomexpert.com:
Ecology: Parasitic on living hardwoods (especially oaks) and saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods; causing a white butt and root rot; growing alone or gregariously, usually near the base of the tree; annual; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, and occasionally recorded in the western states.

Cap: 2-30 cm; at first irregularly knobby or elongated, but by maturity more or less fan-shaped; with a shiny, varnished surface often roughly arranged into lumpy "zones"; red to reddish brown when mature; when young often with zones of bright yellow and white toward the margin.

Pore Surface: Whitish, becoming dingy brownish in age; usually bruising brown; with 4-7 tiny (nearly invisible to the naked eye) circular pores per mm; tubes to 2 cm deep.

Stem: Sometimes absent, but more commonly present; 3-14 cm long; up to 3 cm thick; twisted; equal or irregular; varnished and colored like the cap; often distinctively angled away from one side of the cap.

Flesh: Brownish; fairly soft when young, but soon tough.

Spore Print: Brown.

Chemical Reactions: KOH black or blackish on all surfaces.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 5.5-8 µ; more or less elliptical, sometimes with a truncated end; appearing smooth at lower magnifications; under oil immersion appearing double-walled, with a row of "pillars" between the walls. Setae and cystidia absent. Hyphal system dimitic.

REFERENCES: (Curtis, 1781) Karsten, 1881. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1912; Overholts, 1953; Arora, 1986; Gilbertson & Ryvarden, 1986; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993; Barron, 1999; McNeil, 2006; Kuo, 2007; Binion et al., 2008.) Herb. Kuo 04299504, 09040301.