A brown-rot decay fungus of trunks and stumps of broadleaf trees, especially oak and cherry

Edible when young and properly cooked, though it disagrees with some people

• ▸ Bright sulphur-yellow bracket fans with an orange centre, in overlapping clusters
• ▸ Soft, watery, crumbling sulphur-yellow flesh
• ▸ Tiny, sulphur-yellow pores underneath; no stem, attached directly to the wood
• ▸ Usually on trunks and stumps of oak, wild cherry and other broadleaves

The "chicken of the woods": a large, unmistakable bracket whose young fans are a celebrated wild food. It must always be thoroughly cooked, and it upsets some people, so a first taste should be small.