Stereum fasciatum (Schwein.) Fr.

Common name: None.

Description: This is a thin, leathery fungus with brilliant orange and orange-brown, zoned caps or brackets that occur directly on wood. The fruiting bodies may reach up to 10 cm in width and have an upper surface that is usually finely velvety or hairy. The texture is very tough and leathery and is usually not easily torn. The very thin brackets are about 1 mm thick and are often undulate or waved with lobed margins. The smooth undersurface is usually bright orange and similarly wavy or undulate. During dry weather, the brackets dry out and become very tough and almost resemble thin sheets of plastic. Old brackets become green-stained with algae growing on the surface.

The spores measure 56 × 23 µm and are ellipsoidal, smooth and colourless but white in mass.

Substratum: Stereum fasciatum is always found on wood. The fungus usually grows in immense troops on logs or in tiers up still-standing dead trunks in rainforests.

Distribution: Common in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Notes: An interesting aspect of this fungus is its almost exclusive possession of any log on which it occurs. Tests have revealed that the fungus produces considerable quantities of cyanide gas, possibly as a respiratory by-product. It is probable that the cyanide limits the growth of other fungi thus ensuring a minimum of competition for nutrients in the substrate.