Small pantropical genus (Fam. Polyporaceae) of 5 species, 4 of which are present in tropical Africa (Ryvarden
& Johansen 1980),
including Echinochaete brachypora, edible and fairly common.
Sporophores annual, more or less stipitate, flabelliform or spatuliform. Cap velvety, with or without scales, smooth with age, pinkish white then reddish brown,
brownish. Pores angular, hexagonal. Hyphae dimitic, generative hyphae with clamp connections, connective hyphae yellowish and spiny setoid elements in the
pileipellis, hymenium and pores. Spore print white. Spores ellipsoid to cylindrical. All species are saprotrophic on decaying deciduous wood.