Dryad's Saddle

Cerioporus squamosus

Edible when young

Also called pheasant's back, scaly polypore.

Dryad's saddle is a large, cream-colored polypore patterned with brown scales like a pheasant's feathers. It grows from dead and dying hardwoods in spring, often during morel season, and smells of watermelon rind or cucumber when cut.

Two dryad's saddle brackets with brown-scaled tan caps growing at the base of a dead tree

The tell

Cream bracket covered in brown, feathery scales, with large angular pores and a smell of watermelon rind.

Field marks

What to look at

Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.

Cap
Fan- to saddle-shaped, cream to pale tan, covered in flattened brown scales arranged in a feathery pattern. Often in overlapping shelves.
Underside
Whitish to cream pores, large and angular, honeycomb-like, running down the stem.
Stem
Short, thick and off-center, whitish above and black to dark brown at the base.
Flesh
Thick and white, soft when young, becoming tough and corky. Smell of watermelon rind or cucumber.
Spore print
White.
Size
Cap 2 to 12 inches (5 to 30 cm) wide, occasionally larger; stem 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 8 cm) long.

Where and when

Where and when it grows

Habitat
On stumps, logs and wounds of living trees in hardwood forests, parks and yards. Often on elm, maple, box elder and willow.
Grows on
Dead and living hardwood.
Season
Spring, with a smaller flush in fall.
Range
Common east of the Rocky Mountains; less common in the West.

Lookalikes

What the dryad's saddle gets confused with

Each card says how to tell the two apart.

  1. Blackfoot polypore (Picipes badius)

    Smooth, shiny reddish-brown cap without scales, tiny pores and a black stem base.

  2. Spring polypore (Lentinus arcularius)

    Much smaller, under 3 inches, with a central stem, a fringed cap edge and similar angular pores.

Edibility

What the field guides say

Edible when young

Field guides list dryad's saddle as edible when young and tender. Older brackets become tough and corky. No toxic polypore in North America is known to resemble it closely.

This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.

FAQ

Questions about the dryad's saddle

Is dryad's saddle edible?

Field guides list it as edible when young. The flesh becomes tough and leathery as the bracket ages, so mature specimens are described as inedible.

What does dryad's saddle smell like?

Fresh flesh smells of watermelon rind or cucumber. The smell is one of the features field guides use to confirm it.

When does dryad's saddle grow?

Mostly in spring, at the same time as morels, on dead or dying hardwoods. A smaller flush sometimes appears in fall.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  1. Polyporus squamosus

    MushroomExpert.com

  2. Cerioporus squamosus

    Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)

  3. Dryad's Saddle

    Missouri Department of Conservation

  4. Cerioporus squamosus

    Index Fungorum

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