Xylodon australis

Xylodon australis is a corticioid fungus. This means that the fruit body is more-or less two dimensional. It grows on wood of various sorts and is generally some shade of orange-brown. From a distance it looks like a wash of colour on the wood but a close look shows that this 'paint' layer has numerous short warts or teeth.

You find the fruit bodies of most corticioid fungi on the underside of dead wood lying on the ground and you find Xylodon australis on such wood. However, at times you find it growing on the bark of live trees and may then cover a square metre or more of the bark surface.      

This species was first described in 1859 (as Grandinia australis) based on a specimen collected in Tasmania. In recent times it has been reported from New Zealand and southern Argentina.

For many years it was known as Hyphodontia australis but recently the genus Hyphodontia was split into a number of genera.