Hymenochaetales

The Hymenochaetales order of fungi contains around 600 species of saprotrophic (wood-decaying) fungi, many of which cause white rot. A wide variety of fungi comprise the order, including curst fungi (corticioid fungi), polypores (poroid fungi), coral fungi (clavarioid fungi), and gill mushrooms (agarics). Polypores and crust fungi make up the bulk of the species. A few popular medicinal mushrooms belong to the order, such as Chaga (Inonotus obliquus).

Currently, genetic analysis is the only way to classify species in the Hymenochaetales order because of the lack of unique morphological features used for identification.