Strange Albino Hoof Fungus

[Littlesthobo]

Hello Everyone,

A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk in my local park in southern england and saw a very strange fungus on a Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica). It appeared identical to a normal horse's hoof (Formes fomentarius) but was pure white in colour. There were several fruiting bodies on the tree.

I've tried to look it up both in books and online but can find nothing that comes near to its pure white colour. Does anybody know what it could be? It definetly wasn't a polypore by the way and contained a huge amount of Amadou. Many thanks for everybody's help. Here are some pictures of it:

http://s990.photobucket.com/albums/af28/fungiphotos/

Oh, and coinsidently, the same tree also had some King Afred's Cakes (Daldinia concentrica) on it which I've never seen on a Beech Tree before.

 

[BorderReiver]

I've seen a few round these parts at different times. I assumed it was a fungal attack as the white seemed to be powdery.

Did the white wash off, or was it "fixed"?

 

[Littlesthobo]

Hi Mike,

The white is absolutely fixed in place, I'm rubbing in on my hand right now and nothing is coming off.

 

[Adze]

Some pics would be good please? Always keen to learn a new 'shroom

 

[Littlesthobo]

Hi Adam,

I posted a link to the pictures in the original post. Hope they help.

 

[Adze]

Here: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/dec2001.html

To the right is a close relative of Fomes that you might commonly find in the woods, especially in heavily populated areas. Of course it's in a different genus, Styrofomes. And of course you know that this is one of the cup fungi...

 

[BorderReiver]

Hi Mike,

The white is absolutely fixed in place, I'm rubbing in on my hand right now and nothing is coming off.

That's interesting. The ones that I saw looked like someone had sprinkled castor sugar over them.

I hope our resident mycologists come up with an answer.

 

[Adze]

I think it's still F. Fomentarius - just a very pale one. If you do a Google image search they range in colour from pale grey to almost black, yours is the palest I found doing that though so worth taking some more pics of it just in case.

Are you able to take a spore print or perhaps some pics with it bisected?

Cheers,

 

[Littlesthobo]

I'm not so sure. I agree they range in colour, and of course did such a Google search myself to check out the range, but it's not just quite pale but rather brilliant white, at least the one photographed on the tree anyway. If I get the time I'll try and pop back up the heath and get some more shots over the next few days.