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Species library › Fistulina › Fistulina hepatica
Fungi Partly documented

Fistulina hepatica

Beefsteak fungus

A tongue-shaped, blood-red bracket that looks and bleeds like raw meat, growing on oak and sweet chestnut from late summer to autumn. It causes a brown rot that stains oak heartwood a prized reddish-brown. It is edible but rarely cultivated.

Fistulina hepatica
Photo: Jiří Berkovec, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Very humid airBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest period

Where it grows wild

On living or dead oak and sweet chestnut, usually low on trunks; in Australia from wounds on Eucalyptus.

Recorded at 0–2000 m, median 295 m (21 records).

EuropeNorth AmericaNorth AfricaSouthern AfricaAustralia

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.