Irpex lacteus
species of fungus
Irpex lacteus is a common crust fungus distributed throughout temperate areas of the world. It is the type of the genus Irpex. Irpex lacteus is considered a polypore, but depending on growth conditions it can also produce a hydnoid hymenophore. Due to this variability and abundance of the species it has been described as a new species to science numerous times and subsequently has an extensive synonymy. The complete genome sequence of Irpex lacteus was reported in 2017.
Ecology
Irpex lacteus is a white-rot fungus that inhabits mainly angiosperm branches and trunks. It is one of the most common wood-rotting fungi for instance in urban North America. It is inedible. This fungus has been identified as a cause of pulmonary infections in immuno-compromised humans.
It is occasionally eaten by the widespread American pleasing fungus beetle Ischyrus quadripunctatus.
The public source identifies “Irpex lacteus” as species of fungus. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Irpex, lacteus and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5231679. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017.
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This entry incorporates text from “Irpex lacteus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.