Trichaptum larch (Trichaptum laricinum)
Trichaptum larch belongs to tinder mushrooms. Usually grows in the taiga, preferring the deadwood of conifers - pine, spruce, larch.
Most often it grows for one year, but there are also biennial specimens.
Outwardly, it differs little from the rest of the tinder fungus: the fruit bodies are prostrate, located in the form of tiles along the dead wood or on a stump. But there are also specific features (plates, hymenophore thickness).
The caps are very similar to shells, while in young mushrooms they have a rounded shape, and then, in mature trichaptums, they become practically merged together. Dimensions - up to about 6-7 centimeters in length.
The surface of the caps of Trichaptum laricinum is grayish, in places white, and silky to the touch. The surface is smooth, the zones are not always highlighted. The fabric is similar to parchment, consists of two thinnest layers, separated by a dark layer.
The hymenophore is lamellar, while the plates diverge radially, have a lilac color in young specimens, and then later turn gray and brown.
The mushroom is inedible. It occurs, despite the prevalence in the regions, rather rarely.
A similar species is the brown-violet trichaptum, but its plates are very dissected, and the hymenophore is thinner (about 2-5 mm).