Bracket fungi, otherwise known as polypores, are fascinating objects. Any walk through the woods in autumn will reveal their various strange shapes, like horses' hooves, kidneys, flat semi-circular shelves or crinkly-edged frills, growing on fallen wood, stumps and dead or drying trees, and sometimes also on apparently healthy ones. Certain species were used in the past as a source of tinder or pith, and French and Italian chefs have even found bracket fungi that are good to eat.