Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr. : Fr.) Pat. 1900
Velvet-top fungus, dyer’s polypore, dyer’s mazegill, brown-cubical butt rot, red-brown butt rot
Velvet-top fungus is native to Europe, North America, Central America, Asia, and Oceania. The name “dyer’s polypore” alludes to its use as a dyeing agent.
Identification: Caps are 2½–12″ (7–30 cm) around, circular or semicircular or with irregular lobes in shape. Most often they emerge from the ground on a short stem, but they also appear as a shelf fungus near the base of trees. They are approximately flat. Younger caps are velvety, with concentric zones of widely varying colors—whites, creams, yellows, reds, oranges, and every imaginable shade of brown. (These were once used to dye yarn.) As they age, they fade into a nondescript, more uniform brown. The spore print is whitish to yellowish.
Habitats: These parasitize the roots and heartwood of living conifers, as well as on feeding on deadwood. Often they kill living trees. In the US, they are found on Douglas fir in the west, white pine in the east, and loblolly pine in the south. It is also oft encountered on two- and three-needle pines (Pinus nigra, P. resinosa, P. rigida, and P. sylvestris), spruce (especially P. abies), and larch (Larix).
Online References:
9/10/2018 · Pearl Hill State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts, United States 
7/23/2023 · The Mountain Trails, The Mountain Preserve, Belgrade Lakes Village, Maine 
7/31/2015 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 4″ (13 × 10 cm) 
9/4/2021 · Bradbury Mountain State Park, Pownal, Maine · ≈ 3½ × 3″ (9.6 × 7.5 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
9/4/2021 · Bradbury Mountain State Park, Pownal, Maine · ≈ 4 × 3½″ (10 × 9 cm) ID is uncertain 
10/6/2018 · Marble Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Massachusetts 
10/6/2018 · Marble Hill Conservation Area, Stow, Massachusetts 
10/7/2018 · Shepley Hill, Groton, Massachusetts 
8/15/2015 · Moose Cave, Grafton Notch State Park, Newry, Maine · ≈ 7 × 6″ (17 × 16 cm) 
9/10/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 10″ (30 × 26 cm) 
8/11/2025 · Skolfield Shore Preserve, Harpswell, Maine · ≈ 6 × 6″ (16 × 16 cm) 
10/7/2018 · Shepley Hill, Groton, Massachusetts 
10/7/2018 · Shepley Hill, Groton, Massachusetts 
9/10/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 15 × 10″ (39 × 26 cm) 
7/27/2013 · Oak Hill, Littleton Conservation Land, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 6″ (18 × 15 cm) 
8/25/2019 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts 
7/26/2020 · Eaton Farm Preserve, Wiscasset, Maine · ≈ 6 × 7″ (16 × 16 cm) 
8/25/2019 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts 
10/7/2018 · Shepley Hill, Groton, Massachusetts 
8/25/2019 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts 
9/10/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 11 × 7″ (27 × 18 cm) 
8/28/2016 · Groton Hills Conservation Area and Sawtell Conservation Area, Groton, Massachusetts 
8/24/2016 · Blue Trail, Willard Brook State Park, Ashby, Massachusetts 
| Roughly 75 people in North America are poisoned each year by mushrooms, often from eating a poisonous species that resembles an edible species. Though deaths are rare, there is no cure short of a liver transplant for severe poisoning. Don’t eat any mushroom unless you are absolutely certain of its identity! Please don’t trust the identifications on this site. We aren’t mushroom experts and we haven’t focused on safely identifying edible species. |
Phaeolus schweinitzii description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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