Like other members of the genus of Phellinus, it lives by saprotrophic nutrition, in which the lignin and cellulose of a host tree is degraded and is a cause of white rot.

The fungus forms perennial fruiting bodies that rise as woody-hard, hoof or disc-shaped brackets from the bark of the infested living tree or dead log.

These conks are among the longest persisting fungal fruit bodies, displaying up to eighty annual growth rings.

[6] Woodpeckers are known to favour its site as a good place to excavate a nesting chamber since the wood will be soft and weaker around its location.

A 2014 study in mice suggests an extract of the mushroom fruit body may have a high therapeutic potential for ameliorating multiple sclerosis progression.