18/Oct/2025, 1:44 PM
Kadrioru park, Tallinn, Harjumaa, Eesti
Urban park, on old mossy decaying hardwood stump
59°26'22.0"N 24°47'44.2"E
🌡️ 6°C ⛅ Passing clouds 💨 Wind 70° ENE->WSW, 9 km/h
Original Instagram postLenzites betulinus
birch mazegill
- Scientific identification
- Lenzites betulinus (L.) Fr.
- Family
- Polyporaceae
- Class
- Agaricomycetes
- Genus
- Lenzites
Names across languages
- English: birch mazegill
- German: Birken-Blättling
- Finnish: Koivunhelttakääpä
- Estonian: Kasepehik
- Russian: Ленцитес берёзовый
The scientific profile
From the latest record: 2025-10-18.
Hymenium
Gills (true lamellae, broad and tough), white or cream when young, later a pale buff
Cap
Bracket- or shelf-shaped (sometimes semicircular or fan-shaped), attached laterally to wood, surface zoned in concentric rings of whitish, greyish-buff, brown tones, velvety/tomentose
Hymenium Attachment
N/A (the gills are part of the underside of the bracket)
Stipe
Absent — fruit body is sessile on wood
Spore print
Spore print white
Ecology
Saprobic causing white-rot on dead or dying hardwood, especially birch, beech and other broadleaves, all year round
Ecology
Inedible - tough and corky,
Fruit body
Fruit body size medium
Dimensions
Cap width up to ~10 cm or more, 2 cm thick
Flesh
Flesh white, corky, unchanging when cut
Chemical reactions
KOH on surface or flesh negative to weak yellow
Odour
Faint, indistinct
Taste
Tough, corky
Microscopy
Spores cylindrical to allantoid, smooth, hyaline, ~5–6×1.5–2.5 µm, hyphal system monomitic/trimitic with clamp connections
Overview
Polypore on hardwoods, easily recognised by its bracket form and under-surface of true gills
1838). Epicr. Syst. Mycol. (Upsaliae): 405 (’1836-1838′).
Field encounters
Source hashtags
#hongos #lenzitesbetulinus #lenzites #birchmazegill #gilledpolypore #kasepehik #koivunhelttakääpä #birkenblättling #blättling #mushroomphoto #fungiphoto #fungimacro #naturephotography #seenefotod #pilzefotografieren #фотогрибов #sieniäkuvia #houby #mycology #fungistudy #mushroom #fungi #woodfungi #mazegillpolypore #pilze
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