Rooting beefsteak fungus

What the mushroom is

Pseudofistulina radicata is a bracket fungus that grows on dead wood and causes a white rot. It is related to the common beefsteak fungus, Fistulina hepatica. The stem is deeply rooting: it runs down into the soil, where it reaches buried roots of oak and chestnut, so the fruiting body appears to come up from the ground. The flesh is white, fairly tough and has a mild smell and taste.

The catalogue lists the common name as rooting beefsteak fungus and records the species as a research name. Wikipedia lists Pseudofistulina sinensis as a second species in the genus, and several older names, including Fistulina brasiliensis, are treated as synonyms. These taxonomic points were not checked against the original descriptions in this recovery.

Range and habitat

The species is recorded from eastern North America and from Central and South America. Its ecology is saprotrophic and wood-associated, and the catalogue gives its supply as wild. MushroomExpert describes it as rare and seldom treated in field guides.

Food use as recorded

The catalogue records the species as a traditional edible fungus in Guatemala, taken from an older regional compilation. No other source reviewed names Guatemala, and neither MushroomExpert nor FungiAtlas reports eating it. The catalogue asks that the current taxonomy and the local identity be reconfirmed before the record is used.

The sources reviewed do not describe a preparation, and none is stated here.

Edibility and look-alikes

The sources disagree on edibility. FungiAtlas lists the species as inedible, and MushroomExpert gives a neutral description with no verdict. The common beefsteak fungus, Fistulina hepatica, is the edible relative that people sometimes confuse with it. One guide says the rooting species is very similar in form but lacks the red bleeding response of that relative.

Inclusion in the catalogue does not establish identity, edibility or a safe preparation. This page gives no edibility verdict for wild specimens, and a specialist should confirm identity before any use.

Open questions

The Guatemalan compilation has not been read here, so the record stands as the catalogue gives it. What is open is whether the Guatemalan material belongs to this species, whether it is eaten, and how it is prepared.