Birch Polypore

[Phaestos]

Hey guys,

I've known about and used Birch Polypore since I started Bushcraft, and been wonderfully impressed by the medicinal, firelighting and knife maintenance abilities of it. However, recently, whenever I see it, the underside is not the smooth creamy white that I expect, but rather resembles something that has spored, I was wondering if Birch Polypore does actually spore, when does it spore usually, and if so, does that remove the facility of using the underside for plasters? As an addition to that question, would you be able to use the top of the fungus, where the razor strop layer is, in the same way; by cutting off a slither to make a plaster?

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Phaestos]

Shameless bump

 

[cranmere]

I just found this. The underneath layer is indeed the part which produces the spores and instead of gills like the more familiar mushrooms it has a spongy tissue, hence polypore - poly-many, pore-pores or holes! It will often strip off the main part of hte mushroom very easily.

I made use of a thin sliver of the white part today as a plaster for a cut finger (yes I know, I was careless) and it worked very well. Unfortunately the birch bark that I was stripping from a fallen tree was pretty thin but it should make some little containers.

 

[davidpingu]

I'm thread jacking a bit but is polypore seasonal?

I saw some lovely specimens back a few months ago in the local woodland but the only ones I could find a couple of weeks ago were rotten on the ground.

 

[cranmere]

Most fungi are to some extent seasonal, I found 2 really good ones today so it might be worth looking if you want some.

 

[JonathanD]

You can only really use them as plasters when they first form in early Autumn. I've used the method a few times with impressive results...








It goes semi-rigid after about 12 hours and stops on of it's own accord. Still flexible, but tough and protective.

 

[redneck]

Did the wound heal well with no problems?

 

[JonathanD]

Yeah, no problem at all. I did use a sterile antiseptic wipe before applying the polypore plaster, and you have to make sure it's a fresh, newly sprouted polypore. But then that's obvious as you can't make them from older ones anyway as they are too hard or leathery.