Splitgill - Schizophyllum commune

Description

A small white fungus with a shaggy-looking, hairy non-fertile surface.  Underneath, the fertile surface is pale pinkish brown, with a radiating fan of gill-like, forked folds, each split along the middle.  It can form bracket-like growths with a short stem, but sometimes it is attached centrally by the upper non-fertile surface

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Photograph the upper and undersides; your photos should show the split gills.  Note habitat and substrate

Habitat

Deciduous trees, dead wood and cut timber. Increasingly, it is recorded on polythene-wrapped straw bales (ref: Sterry & Hughes, 2009). 

When to see it

All year.

VC55 Status

Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Splitgill
Species group:
fungus
Kingdom:
Fungi
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Schizophyllaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
8
First record:
17/01/2021 (McLoughlin, Margaret)
Last record:
31/01/2026 (Ainsworth, Helen)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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