I photographed these --- 'things' on a small island in Queen Charlotte Straight last October. You can't really tell their size from the picture --- at their widest, they were at least 35 to 40 cm. I don't recall ever seeing ones like this before. How unusual are they? Or are they an everyday fungus in the BC rainforest?
The size and pattern of growth made me think an old Northern Staircase (Climacocystis borealis) but I don't think it gets that dark in colour when it ages. Maybe a Phellinus? We found something on a smaller scale, hard, polypore, looking much like that colour and shape, smelling of licorice and leather, and I think it was ultimately identified as a Phellinus. There are folks studying fungi in Haida Gwaii - hopefully one of them reads this forum.
I don't recall there being a smell, but then I didn't sniff it, either. If I go back there I'll take a little sniff, maybe. ;)
