# Robust Bracket

*Fomitiporia robusta*

The Robust Bracket is a perennial fungus; it grows a new layer of spore-producing tubes every year, which can be counted like tree rings to determine its age.

- **Taxonomy:** Fungi › Basidiomycota › Agaricomycetes › Hymenochaetales › Hymenochaetaceae › Fomitiporia
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Deciduous woodlands, specifically growing on the trunks of living or dead hardwood trees, with a strong preference for Oak (Quercus).
- **Diet:** Saprotrophic and parasitic; it feeds on lignin and cellulose, causing a slow white rot within its host tree.
- **Range:** Europe, North America, North Africa, Western Asia
- **Size:** 10 to 30 cm wide and up to 20 cm thick.
- **Lifespan:** 15-25 years
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Intensive forest management, removal of old-growth 'habitat' trees, and loss of ancient oak woodlands.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless to touch. This fungus is extremely hard and woody, making it entirely inedible. It is best left undisturbed on the tree to serve its ecological role as a decomposer and habitat provider.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/4160c9fd-79d9-4162-a93c-4153913bae7d
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/485958

- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/3492313/medium.jpg (Peter de Lange, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.