Scenidium nitidum is a fungus that decays wood. It has a shell like shape of smooth surface in brown, mahogany or black circles with a white border. However, the surface below is surprisingly covered by a lay of hexagonal cells that are arranged like a honeycomb. These cells or prismatic tubes are 2-3 mm diameter and roughly 25 mm long. The cells of Scenidium nitidum correspond to the narrow, dense tubes of the remaining shell fungus like Fomitopsis pinicola. It’s thicker on the center of the body where it sticks to the wood. It lives in dead green oak woods.
In Bages district, Scenidium nitidum is mainly found in Montserrat mountain where it lives in green oak woods that died after extreme droughts like that of summer 1994 o forest fires in 1986 or in 1994.
[photos Jordi Badia]