Pycnoporellus fulgens

Pycnoporellus fulgens is a rare polypore that lives on coniferous and deciduous trees. It has a medium-sized protruding one-year-old fruit body. Its upper surface is orange-red in colour. The maze-like pillar on the lower surface is creamy-white and orange when aged.

It usually grows on spruce (Picea abies), but sometimes can also be found in pine, birch and aspen. Pycnoporellus fulgens occurs rarely in Central Europe, the Baltic countries and Sweden and in North America.

Pycnoporellus fulgens is one of our most beautiful polypores. It is notable that it can only grow on groundwood or stump that is decomposed by the red belt conk (Fomitopsis pinicola). Pycnoporellus fulgens is a wood decayer and favours old forests. Despite its rarity, it can be found even in urban forests. It forms brown rot.

In forest management, suitable substrates for Pycnoporellus fulgens are formed by adding deciduous wood, for example, by leaving retention trees and stumps in forests.