The fruit bodies are semicircular and tough, have a concentrically zoned brownish upper surface, and measure up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter.
The whitish underside turns gray-brown as the fruit body ages, but bruises pink or red.
It is found all year and is common in northern temperate woodlands of Eurasia and eastern North America.
Daedaleopsis confragosa was first described scientifically under the name Boletus confragosus by English naturalist James Bolton, in his 1791 work An History of Fungusses, growing about Halifax.
[2] The species has been shuffled between several genera in its taxonomic history:[1] Daedalea by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1801; Trametes by Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst in 1844; Polyporus by Paul Kummer in 1871; Stigila by Otto Kuntze in 1891; Lenzites by Patouillard in 1900; Agaricus by William Alphonso Murrill in 1905; and Ischnoderma by Ivan Zmitrovich in 2001.
[16] Its upper surface is broadly convex to flat, dry, smooth to somewhat hairy, and usually has concentric zone lines.
It can be distinguished by its thinner fruit bodies, a black line in the flesh, and the way that the tubes often break into irregular flattened teeth in maturity.
It causes white rot, a type of wood decay in which lignin is degraded and cellulose remains as a light-colored residue.
[19] In Asia it is widely distributed, having been recorded from China,[20] western Maharashtra (India),[21] Iran,[22] and Japan.
In a Russian study, 54 species from 16 families in the Coleoptera complex were recorded using the fungus; the most common were Cis comptus, Sillcacis affinis (Ciidae), Tritoma subbasalis, Dacne bipustulata (Erotylidae), Mycetophagus multipunctatus, M. piceus (Mycetophagidae), and Thymalus oblongus (Trogossitidae).
[24] Lectins from D. confragosa, tested against rabbit and human erythrocytes, were determined to have anti-H serological specificity.
[26] The polypore is used in ornamental paper making, whereby the fruit bodies are pulped, pressed, and dried to produce sheets with unusual textures and colors.