Large perennial hoof-shaped brackets vary in colour from a silvery grey to brown and almost black.  The caps are hard and woody, with broad, concentric ridges and a blunt rounded margin.  Pores pale grey, small, rounded, 4 - 5 per mm.

Photograph upper and lower fertile surface to show pores; note host plant and substrate

Mainly on Birch,occasionally beech or other deciduous trees.

Formerly rare in Leicestershire and Rutland but now frequent.