White Cheese Polypore

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed

Description

White Cheese Polypore medium-sized, common, widespread, fleshy, bracket (shelf-like) fungus. It is not edible.

It lives on decaying stumps and logs (saprobic). It is found singly or in groups of two or three living usually on dead hardwoods, occasionally on dead conifers.

The fruiting body is annual. There is no stem.

The bracket (cap) is fan-shaped to semicircular in outline, broadly convex or flat, ¾″ to 4¾″ wide, and ¾″ to 3⅛″ deep, and ⅜″ to 1⅜″ thick. The upper surface is white and densely covered with fine, white hairs at first. As it ages it becomes hairless and yellowish-buff. Older specimens are crusty and wrinkled or shriveled. It does not have well-defined zones. The flesh is white, soft or spongy and watery, and fragrant when fresh,crumbly when dry. The texture of mature bracket is cheesy, which accounts for the common name of this fungus.

The pore surface on the underside of the bracket is white at first, becoming yellowish with age. There are 3 to 5 pores per millimeter. The pores may be 1 ⁄16″ to ¼″ deep, but are usually no more than ⅛″ deep. The spore print is white.

Similar Species

Habitat and Hosts

Woodlands. Usually on dead hardwoods, occasionally on dead conifers.

Ecology

Season

July through December

Distribution

Sources

7, 24, 30, 77, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 9/14/2026).

Tyromyces chioneus (Fr.) P. Karst. in Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Abreu, C., Acero P, A., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (2026-08-26 XR). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgyy9

Mycology Collections Portal (MyCoPortal) https://www.mycoportal.org/portal/collections/index.php). Accessed 9/14/2026.