Schizophyllum commune Fr. :Fr. Syst. Mycol. 1: 330 (1821)

Image © Taylor Lockwood Reproduced by permission Common Name:

The small, shell0shaped caps often form dense, overlapping rows on dead logs. The caps are greyish and very hairy. The gills appear to have been split lengthwise into two. Literally: {a} common {fungus} with gills which are split. (Schizo [Gr.] - split; phyllon [Gr.] - leaf or gill; communis [L.] - common, ordinary.)

• Pileus/cap

  1-4cm broad. White. grey-white, grey, sometimes grey-brown. Upper surface covered with corase greyish hairs. Fan-shaped to kidney shaped, lobed and indented. Margin inrolled. Tough and leathery.

• Lamellae/gills

  Radiate from point of attachment to substrate. White, grey, pinkish-beige. Gills appear to be split or grooved and curl back in dry weather.

• Stipe/stem

  Lateral or absent, often merely the point of cap's attachment to substrate.

• Spores

  Spore print white.

• Habitat

  Forms clusters on dead wood of a wide variety of species. A species with worldwide distribution.

• References

  Fuhrer, B. Field Companion to Australian Fungi p. 76

Distribution map

Last modified on 28 May 2001

Maintained by Mike McBain

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