Minnesota Seasons - Smoky Polypore

Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

Description

Smoky Polypore is a widespread and fairly common bracket fungus. It is found in dense, overlapping rows or fused clusters on dead hardwoods. It is rarely found on conifers. It usually takes the form of bracket on the side of a tree or log but occasionally appears as a crust on the underside of a dead branch.

The fruiting body is a medium-sized, unstalked bracket. The bracket is elongated or fan-shaped, flat or wavy, up to 4″ wide, and up to 2⅜″ deep. It is leathery and flexible or corky when fresh, becoming rigid and inflexible when dry. The upper surface is dry and white to tan, smoky gray, or grayish-brown. It is usually weakly concentrically zoned in shades of brown and gray, sometimes unzoned. When young, it is velvety-hairy or finely hairy and the margins are whitish. When mature, it is nearly hairless and the margins turn brown to black, giving a scorched appearance. The species name adjusta means scorched, referring to the blackened margins on mature and older specimens, the most distinguishing feature of the mushroom when encountered in the field.

There is no stem.

The underside is densely covered with spore-bearing pores. It is whitish when young, bruising gray, and turning smoky gray to blackish at maturity. The pores are very minute and barely visible without a hand lens. There are 5 to 7 pores per millimeter. The spore tubes are no more than 1 ⁄16″ deep.

The flesh is white, tough, and corky or leathery. It is not poisonous but is inedible due to a tough texture and a sour taste.

The spore print is white.

Similar Species

Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) is distinctly zoned in contrasting shades and sometimes multiple colors. The pore surface is white, not gray.

Habitat and Hosts

Dead hardwoods

Ecology

Season

Fruits after fall rains but persists 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, 9/14/2025).
9/14/2025

Occurrence
Widespread and fairly common

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Fungi (fungi)
Subkingdom	Dikarya
Division	Basidiomycota (club fungi)
Subdivision	Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)
Class	Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)
Subclass	Agaricomycetidae
Order	Polyporales (shelf fungi)
Family	Phanerochaetaceae
Genus	Bjerkandera

Family A recent study (Justo et al., 2017) reviewed the Polyporales based on new molecular DNA data. The genera were realligned within three new and fifteen existing families. The genus Bjerkandera was transferred from the Meruliaceae family to the Phanerochaetaceae family.

Subordinate Taxa


Synonyms
Agaricus crispus Bjerkandera adusta ssp. resupinata Bjerkandera adusta ssp. solubilis Bjerkandera adusta ssp. tegumentosa Bjerkandera adusta var. crispa Bjerkandera adusta var. crispus Bjerkandera isabellina Bjerkandera scanica Boletus adustus Boletus adustus ssp. crispus Boletus adustus var. crispus Boletus carpineus Boletus carpineus Boletus concentricus Boletus crispus Boletus fuscoporus Boletus isabellinus Boletus pelleporus Ceriporiopsis niger Coriolellus serialis f. resupinatus Coriolus alabamensis Daedalea fennica Daedalea oudemansii ssp. fennica Daedalea oudemansii var. fennica Daedalea solubilis Geotrichopsis mycoparasitica Gloeoporus adustus Gloeoporus adustus ssp. atropileus Gloeoporus adustus ssp. excavatus Gloeoporus adustus ssp. excavavatus Gloeoporus adustus ssp. solubilis Gloeoporus adustus ssp. tegumentosus Gloeoporus crispus Grifola adusta Leptoporus adustus Leptoporus adustus ssp. resupinatus Leptoporus adustus var. crispus Leptoporus crispus Leptoporus nigrellus Microporus gloeoporoides Microporus lindheimeri Polyporus adustus Polyporus adustus ssp. ater Polyporus adustus ssp. carpineus Polyporus adustus ssp. resupinata Polyporus adustus var. ater Polyporus adustus var. carpineus Polyporus adustus var. pelleporus Polyporus amesii Polyporus amorphus var. halesiae Polyporus atropileus Polyporus burtii Polyporus carpineus Polyporus cinerascens Polyporus crispus Polyporus curreyanus Polyporus digitalis Polyporus dissitus Polyporus excavatus Polyporus fumosogriseus Polyporus halesiae Polyporus isabellinus Polyporus lindheimeri Polyporus macrosporus Polyporus murinus Polyporus nigrellus Polyporus ochraceocinereus Polyporus scanicus Polyporus secernibilis Polyporus solubilis Polyporus subcinereus Polyporus tegumentosus Polyporus tristis Polystictus adustus Polystictus alabamensis Polystictus carpineus Polystictus gloeoporoides Polystictus lindheimeri Polystictus puberulus Poria argentea Poria carnosa Poria curreyana Poria luteogrisea Trametes tristis Tyromyces adustus

Common Names
Scorched Bracket Smoky Bracket Smoky Polypore