Tooth Fungas - Don't eat me!

Things most people don't know about me - I was almost a forest engineer - until I realized that I really wanted to play SIM City in real life and switched to Civil - and then I realized I missed teaching, and after all that, I'm almost on my 10th year of teaching.  However, I still find the many relationships between Fungi and Forest fascinating (yes, kids - that was intentional alliteration!)

I love fungi that grow on trees!  These are particular beauties with their bright colours and long teeth.  I was busy hiking so I didn't even think to try and identify the host tree, but the trees here were surprisingly large for the subalpine forest.  I thought it would be easy to classify this striking mushroom, but many hours of searching have come up short.  The best match I could find is Hydnophlebia chrysorhiza or Phanerochaete sp.  However, if any forestry folks can help me out.  The available information online suggested that it attacked plane trees in one article and conifers in the other.  (This log is likely a conifer).  In the meantime, I'm wishing that I could find my fungi identification book, but I have a suspicion that it was for Eastern Canada and also likely still in eastern Canada at my mother's house.

Still a beauty found in the Canadian Rockies!