Beefsteak Fungus — Jiří Berkovec / CC BY-SA 3.0

Fungus · Fistulinaceae

Beefsteak Fungus

Fistulina hepatica

Facts

Habitat: Veteran Oak and Sweet Chestnut heartwood
Substrate: Parasitic, veteran Oak heartwood. Creates prized brown oak timber

Ecological relationships

Grows on

Pedunculate OakQuercus robur
Found almost exclusively on veteran Pedunculate Oak, where it causes a distinctive brown rot that ironically produces the prized "brown oak" timber sought by craftspeople. One of the most oak-faithful bracket fungi in Europe.