Is this ganodema?

[Central Floridave]

I recently visited a house to check out the palms and saw this conk growing out of a 60 foot tall royal palm. I think it's ganodema. But may not be. What you think?

[Central Floridave]

[Central Floridave]

[Palmdude]

Does look like it

[Phoenikakias]

It may sound off-topic, but since every infested palm is doomed anyway, I was wondering whether also this kind of ganoderma is edible like Ganoderma lucidum, reserved exclusively in the past only for the Chinese emperor...

[Ken Johnson]

There are many kinds of shelf fungi so it would be hard to tell without some kind of guide I would imagine.

[Central Floridave]

Thanks. This isn't my palm. But the palm is extremely tall, about 60 feet. It has survived multiple freezes. Its in Central Merritt Island. I saw those conch and went, "Oh Oh". That it will be an expensive palm to remove and/or the next tropical storm will knock it over on top of the house.

[Dmcdonald]

Did you get any other pictures of it? What does the underside look like? I have a mushroom field guide and will look later and see but the more info the better. A spore print is sometimes the best way to be certain of the type of mushroom.

[Central Floridave]

No, sorry, I didn't get any other photos. I saw it and took a quick photo and kept walking.

[Palmdude]

There are old mushroom hunters and bold mushroom hunters but there are no old bold mushroom hunters..... So the saying goes.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Palmdude

[Dmcdonald]

I got this from the National Audubon Society Field Guide To North American Mushrooms. I bought the guide to make sure I was getting the ones that I wanted and not the wrong ones. I gave up the hobby but had many a good time after successful hunts.

I looked at the guide and it sounds like ganoderma curtisii which it says is a southern species and has a bright ochre cap that darkens with age. It says it is always stalked. They don't show a picture of that one but do show the lucidum which looks pretty close. G. curtissi is a look alike to G. lucidum. It says the stalked form is believed to be the Ling Chih of ancient Chinese, the "mushroom of immortality" or the "herb of spiritual potency" . A candy is made from it's essence and is sold in chinese grocery stores.

Not a definitive answer but something.

[Palmdude]

Dennis Florida can be a fun place to hunt mushrooms, sounds like we have some of the same hobbies ,) you must be a fungi lol

Edited October 24, 2014 by Palmdude

[Moose]

Doesn't ganoderma conks resemble oysters?

[Central Floridave]

Look at fig. 8 in this website. Looks like a spent ganoderma conch.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp100