AI Overview
The image shows Dryad's Saddle, also known as Pheasant's Back Polypore, a common bracket fungus.
- This fungus is a wood-decaying bracket fungus, often found on logs, stumps, and the lower trunks of hardwood trees, especially elms.
- It typically fruits in the spring but can also be found in summer or fall.
- The upper surface is light yellowish-brown with distinctive flat, brown or dark brown scales, giving it a feathery appearance resembling a pheasant's back.
- Dryad's Saddle plays an important ecological role as a saprobic fungus, breaking down wood and returning nutrients to the soil.
- While edible when young, it can become quite chewy with age.
