Minnesota Seasons - Hairy Bracket

Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy

Conservation Status

Photo by Robert Briggs

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Hairy Bracket is a small, common, and widely distributed bracket fungus. It is found year round, alone or in groups. It is saprobic, occurring on stumps and fallen logs of dead hardwood trees.

There is usually no stem, sometimes just a rudimentary stem.

The cap is fan-shaped, semicircular, or kidney-shaped, 1″ to 6″ wide or much wider, and ⅝″ to 2⅜″ deep. It sometimes fuses with adjacent caps. The upper side is concentrically zoned or grooved, and is densely and conspicuously hairy to coarsely velvety hairy. The zones are whitish, grayish, yellowish, or pale brownish. The margin is often dark. The colors are dull and are not highly contrasting. It is often greenish due to a covering of algae.

The underside (pore surface) is white, yellowish, or buff when young, becoming brownish or gray with age. There are 2 to 4 pores per mm (about 1 ⁄32″). The pores are small but plainly visible.

The flesh is whitish, tough, and watery when fresh, becoming dry, rigid, and corky. It is inedible.

Similar Species

Trametes pubescens is smaller, no more than 3⅛″ wide. The cap and margin are radially striate. The margin is not brown or darkened. The pore surface becomes yellowish with age.

Habitat and Hosts

In clusters on stumps and logs of dead hardwood trees

Ecology

Season

Fresh in late summer and autumn but persist Year round

Distribution
		Sources 7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77. Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu, 9/11/2025).
9/11/2025

Occurrence
Common and widespread

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Fungi (fungi)
Subkingdom	Dikarya
Phylum	Basidiomycota (club fungi)
Subphylum	Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)
Class	Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)
Subclass	Agaricomycetidae
Order	Polyporales (shelf fungi)
Family	Polyporaceae (bracket fungi)
Genus	Trametes

Subordinate Taxa
Bjerkandera hirsuta Bjerkandera hirsuta var. resupinata Boletus fibula Boletus hirsutus Boletus lutescens Boletus nigromarginatus Boletus velutinus Coriolus fibula Coriolus hirsutus Coriolus hirsutus var. fibula Coriolus nigromarginatus Coriolus sulcatus Coriolus vellereus Coriolus velutinus var. nigrescens Fomes gourliei Hansenia hirsuta Hansenia vellerea Microporus fibula Microporus galbanatus Microporus hirsutus Microporus nigromarginatus Microporus vellereus Polyporellus peltatus Polyporus cinerascens Polyporus cinereus Polyporus fagicola Polyporus fibula Polyporus galbanatus Polyporus gourliei Polyporus hirsutus Polyporus hirsutus var. brasiliensis Polyporus hirsutus var. marginatus Polyporus hirsutus var. puberulus Polyporus hirsutus var. rugosus Polyporus hirsutus var. scruposus Polyporus nigromarginatus Polyporus peltatus Polyporus vellereus Polystictoides hirsutus Polystictoides hirsutus var. albescens Polystictoides hirsutus var. fuscus Polystictoides hirsutus var. griseus Polystictus cinerascens Polystictus fibula Polystictus fibula var. pores-adustus Polystictus galbanatus Polystictus hirsutus Polystictus hirsutus var. albus Polystictus hirsutus var. fibula Polystictus hirsutus var. marginatus Polystictus hirsutus var. puberulus Polystictus hirsutus var. scruposus Polystictus nigromarginatus Polystictus vellereus Polystictus velutinus var. nigrescens Polystictus velutinus var. sulcatus Scenidium peltatum Scindalma gourliei Trametes porioides Trametes sulcatus

Synonyms


Common Names
Hairy Bracket

Glossary

Saprobic

A term often used for saprotrophic fungi. Referring to fungi that obtain their nutrients from decayed organic matter.

Visitor Photos

Share your photo of this fungus.
		This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach one or more photos and, if you like, a caption.