Saturday 15 June
Oak polypore (Piptoporus quercinus)

Oak polypore fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Oak polypore description
| Kingdom | Fungi |
| Phylum | Basidiomycota |
| Class | Basidiomycetes |
| Order | Poriales |
| Family | Coriolaceae |
| Genus | Piptoporus (7) |
This fungus causes a brown rot of the heartwood of mature or dead oak trees. The stemless bracket-like fruit bodies (the visible part of the fungus) have a smooth upper surface, which feels velvety when young (6). As the fruit body matures, pores develop on the underside (6), and the colour changes from white to pale-yellow and then brown with a white border in mature specimens (6).
- Synonyms
- Buglossoporus pulvinus, Buglossoporus quercinus. Top
-
Association of British Fungus Groups:
http://www.abfg.org/ - Ex-situ
- Measures to conserve a species or habitat that occur outside of the natural range of the species. E.g. in zoos or botanical gardens.
- Fruit body
- In fungi, the fruit body is the visible part of the fungus which bears spores (microscopic particles involved in both dispersal and reproduction).
- Photosynthesis
- Metabolic process characteristic of plants in which carbon dioxide is broken down, using energy from sunlight absorbed by the green pigment chlorophyll. Organic compounds are made and oxygen is given off as a by-product.
- Pollarding
- A tree that has had its limbs and larger branches removed, leaving a trunk that grows new poles each year. The process is often carried out to avoid the dropping of dangerous branches in urban environments, but is also carried out to prolong the life of a tree.
-
National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (November, 2001)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn/ - Roberts, P. (2001) Report on the oak polypore Piptoporus quercinus (syn. Buglossoporus quercinus; B. pulvinus), A UK BAP priority species and Schedule 8 species. English Nature Research Report Number 458. English Nature, Peterborough.
- Jordan, M. (1995) The Encyclopaedia of fungi of Britain and Europe. Harper Collins Publishers, London.
-
Sherwood Forest (November, 2001)
http://www.robinhood.co.uk/themes/forest/natural2.htm -
Marren, P. (2001) Waxcaps and woodland mushrooms. Conservation of fungi in Britain and Northern Europe. Plant Talk On-line (November, 2001)
http://www.kak75.dial.pipex.com/Pages/26fungi.html - view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
Oak polypore biology
Fungi are neither plants nor animals but belong to their own kingdom. They are unable to produce their own food through the process of photosynthesis, as plants do; instead, they acquire nutrients from living or dead plants, animals, or other fungi, as animals do. In many larger fungi (lichens excepted) the only visible parts are the fruit bodies, which arise from a largely unseen network of threads called ‘hyphae’. These hyphae permeate the fungus’s food source, which may be soil, leaf litter, rotten wood, dung, and so on, depending on the species.
In the oak polypore, the hyphae occur within the heartwood of living or dead trees (6). The oak polypore is one of the few species able to live in oak heartwood, which contains a number of toxic or antifungal compounds (6). The fruit bodies of this species occur in July or August, either singly or in clusters, and persist for just a few weeks (6). Old fruit bodies, however, can sometimes persist into the following year in a blackened, decaying or mummified state (6).
TopOak polypore range
This species is widespread but rare in Europe, and the range extends as far east as Japan. It is currently in decline in central Europe and has already become extinct in many areas of northern Europe. In Britain, the species is only known in England, where it has been recorded from 22 sites, ten of them (from Sussex north to Yorkshire) since 1970 (6).
TopOak polypore habitat
This fungus occurs on the limbs and trunks of living or dead veteran oak trees (i.e. trees which are 250 - 800 years old), or on fallen heartwood (6). Typical habitats include medieval forests, deer parks, wood pasture and wooded commons (6).
TopOak polypore status
Provisionally classified as Endangered in Great Britain, and fully protected in the UK under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (1).
TopOak polypore threats
In many woodlands, the age structure of the trees has become skewed towards old specimens, and very little regeneration of new trees occurs. This threatens the long-term future survival of the oak polypore, as there may come a time when oaks of a suitable age will not be present. Felling of old and dead oak trees, often for reasons of 'tidiness' or 'health and safety', has also affected the species, as has clearance of fallen wood (1).
TopOak polypore conservation
The oak polypore fungus is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) priority species, and is included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. The Species Action Plan for this fungus aims to maintain all known populations, and establish five new colonies by 2010 from
Find out more
For further information on the conservation of British fungi, see:
Authentication
Information authenticated by Carl Borges of English Nature:
http://www.english-nature.org.uk/ and by Dr Peter Roberts of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew:
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/
Glossary
References
More »Related species
Close
Image credit
© John Poland
John Poland
91 Ethelburt Avenue
Swaythling
Southampton
Hants
SO16 3DF
United Kingdom
jpp197@alumni.soton.ac.uk
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.










