Umbrella polypore
Polyporus umbellatus · Polypores (Polyporus)
Special mushroom – look, don’t pick Red List: Near threatened (V)
Season, habitat and weather analysis for your place →
Edible, but has become rare (Red List Germany: near threatened). Please leave it – if spared, the tuber in the ground produces new fruit bodies every year.
Recognise it safely – what matters
- Many small, round, centrally stalked caps
- One common branched base
- On the ground near old oaks or beeches
Features
- Cap
- Cluster (10–40 cm) of many, often over a hundred small round caps (1–4 cm), pale grey-brown to ochre, slightly depressed in the centre.
- Underside
- White, small pores, running down the little stalks.
- Stem
- Each cap sits centrally on its own little stalk; all arise from a common branched base.
- Flesh
- White, soft, later tough.
- Smell
- Pleasant.
- Spore print
- White.
Season
JFMAMJJASOND
Habitat
On the ground above the roots of old oaks and beeches; grows from an underground tuber (sclerotium) and often appears at the same spot for years.
Roble, Haya
Risk of confusion
Never identify mushrooms by pictures or an app alone. When in doubt, ask a mushroom expert – and only pick what you know for sure.