Tinder Fungus vs Artist's Bracket
Fomes fomentarius and Ganoderma applanatum are confused for one another often enough to be worth putting next to each other.
Hoof-shaped and woody. Ötzi the Iceman carried it 5,000 years ago — for fire-lighting, not for dinner.
Hard as wood; the white pore surface bruises brown, so people draw on it. Inedible.
Side by side
| Fomes fomentarius | Ganoderma applanatum | |
|---|---|---|
| In this game | Inedible / unclear | Inedible / unclear |
| Habitat | Hoof-shaped brackets on birch and beech, living and dead. | Flat brackets on stumps and trunks of broadleaf trees, especially beech. |
| Season | Perennial — the same bracket persists for years. | Perennial, adding a layer each year. |
| Spore print | White. | Brown — it dusts everything below it. |
The recorded spore prints differ: white for Fomes fomentarius, brown — it dusts everything below it for Ganoderma applanatum. That is one documented difference, not a test you can pass.
This comparison cannot make a mushroom safe to eat. It sets out the few characteristics this game records, in general terms, for two species that vary by region, age and growing conditions. Real specimens overlap in ways no table and no photograph can separate, and the deadly one here is deadly in a single meal. Ask a qualified local expert, every time.
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Fomes fomentarius is also confused with Birch Polypore.
Ganoderma applanatum is also confused with Reishi / Lingzhi.
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