Fomes fomentarius (L. ex Fr.) KickxEchter Zunderschwamm Amadouvier, Hoof Fungus or Tinder Bracket. Bracket 5–45cm across, 3–25cm wide, 2–25cm thick, hoof-shaped, hard and woody, usually discrete but several fruit bodies may occur on the same trunk; upper surface with a hard horny crust, concentrically grooved and zoned grey. Flesh hard, fibrous, cinnamon-brown. Taste acrid, smell slightly fruity. Tubes 2–7mm long in each layer, rusty-brown. Pores 2–3 per mm, circular, light grey-brown darkening when handled. Spores brownish, lemon-yellow, oblong-ellipsoid, 15–20 x 5–7um. Hyphal structure trimitic; generative hyphae with clamp-connections. Habitat usually on birch in Scotland and Northern England, but also on beech. The few record from Southern England are mostly on beech and sycamore. Season sporulating in spring to early summer, perennial. Uncommon. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe.