White-Pored Chicken of the Woods

Laetiporus cincinnatus

Edible

Also called white-pored sulphur shelf.

The white-pored chicken of the woods is a pinkish-orange rosette that grows from the roots at the base of oaks and other hardwoods in eastern North America. It looks like chicken of the woods but has a white rather than yellow pore surface.

Laetiporus cincinnatus

Photo coming

The tell

Pinkish-orange rosette at the base of an oak, with a white pore surface underneath.

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
Overlapping fan-shaped lobes arranged in a rosette, salmon to pinkish orange on top with a paler edge, fading to tan with age.
Underside
Pore surface white to cream, with tiny pores. No gills.
Stem
None, or a short shared base that rises from roots or the ground.
Flesh
Thick, soft and moist when young, whitish; becoming tough and chalky with age. Smell is mild.
Spore print
White.
Size
Rosettes 4 to 24 inches across (10 to 60 cm); individual lobes 2 to 10 inches (5 to 25 cm).

Where and when

Where and when it grows

Habitat
Hardwood forests, parks and yards, usually at the base of oaks, sometimes on buried roots a short distance from the trunk.
Grows on
Roots and the base of living or dead hardwoods, especially oaks.
Season
Summer to fall.
Range
Eastern North America east of the Great Plains.

Lookalikes

What the white-pored chicken of the woods gets confused with

Each card says how to tell the two apart.

  3. Berkeley's polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi)

    Also at the base of oaks, but it is cream to pale tan, much tougher, and has larger, angular pores.

  4. Black-staining polypore (Meripilus sumstinei)

    A grayish-tan rosette whose white pore surface bruises black where damaged.

Edibility

What the field guides say

Edible

Field guides list the white-pored chicken of the woods as edible when young and cooked, and many rate it equal to or better than the yellow-pored species. The cautions recorded for Laetiporus apply: a minority of people react with gastrointestinal upset.

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 white-pored chicken of the woods

What is the difference between chicken of the woods and white-pored chicken of the woods?

The pore surface. Laetiporus sulphureus is sulfur yellow underneath, while Laetiporus cincinnatus is white. The white-pored species also tends to grow as a rosette at the base of oaks, and its top is more pinkish orange.

Is white-pored chicken of the woods edible?

Field guides list it as edible when young and cooked, and many rate it as good as or better than the yellow-pored chicken of the woods. As with other Laetiporus, a minority of people react with stomach upset.

Where does white-pored chicken of the woods grow?

At the base of oaks and other hardwoods in eastern North America, often from roots near the trunk, so it can look as if it grows from the ground. It fruits from summer into fall.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  1. Laetiporus cincinnatus

    MushroomExpert.com

  2. Laetiporus cincinnatus

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

  3. Pale Chicken of the Woods

    Missouri Department of Conservation

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