Podoscypha petalodes

A well-developed fruit body is more-or-less funnel shaped and in a large specimen the funnel may be irregular and somewhat wavy. It may be several centimetres high or broad and is thin, leathery and with the upper surface in shades of orange-brown to chestnut (often with concentric banding) but paler at the margins. However, there is variation in fruit body shape. The funnel may be lobed or somewhat dissected; the stem of the funnel may be almost absent or well-developed; a fruit body may be more like a slightly curled fan (or half-funnel). The underside is paler (from creamy to pale versions of the upper surface. Fruit bodies often appear in groups and form rosettes. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the funnel are smooth (albeit possibly with some wrinkling). There are no pores, gills or spines on the underside.

Fruit bodies grow from wood or seemingly from the ground but then from buried wood.

 This species is found in many countries. In 1965 Derek Reid published ‘A monograph of the stipitate stereoid fungi’, a study of fungi of this form and (page 226) says this “is a very interesting species which appears to be in the process of differentiating into a number of distinct taxa in different parts of the world”. He distinguished three subspecies and you will see Australian collections identified as Podoscypha petalodes subsp. floriformis. and (page 227) says the fruit bodies may form “compound rosettes or cabbage-like fructifications”. However, many people do not bother with these subspecies and refer to just Podoscypha petalodes.   

Look-alikes

This species was originally named Stereum petalodes and some Stereum species have similar colouring and size. However, in general they grow laterally out of wood and not as rosette-forming funnels. Species of Cotylidia may have funnel-like fruit bodies of similar size, but without rosettes (though neighbouring fruit bodies may fuse). Several other Podoscypha species have been reported from Australia, though doubtfully for some species, but Podoscypha petalodes is the only rosette-forming species known for sure from our region.