Cunningham (1965) described and recorded this species on roots at the base of trunks and upon trunks of living trees of kauri in the Waipoua Kauri Forest, North Auckland. Gilmour (1966a) noted that it was of economic importance as it caused a red-brown cubical butt rot of mature timber trees.

Type: Lignicolous Fungi; Description: Basidiomata annual, compound, composed of numerous (5–35) pilei arising from a central common base, usually forming a rosette, but occasionally laterally attached and overlapping, corky-woody, brittle. Pilei fan-shaped, plane or convex, occasionally funnel-shaped, 120–350 mm wide, 3–10 mm thick. Pileus surface tomentose, concentrically sulcate, rusty brown to chocolate brown, margin even or crenate. Pore surface even, with a sterile border 2–10 mm wide, chestnut brown; pores large, angular, 1–3 per mm. Context chestnut brown, 3–7 mm thick. Hyphal system monomitic. Basidiospores broadly elliptical to subglobose, 5–8 × 4–5 μm, smooth, hyaline.

Distribution: Northland, Auckland.; 1st Record: Cunningham (1948c: as Coltricia schweinitzii).

Notes: The fungus recorded as Phaeolus schweinitzii by earlier New Zealand authors differs from the authentic Northern Hemisphere species (Buchanan & Ryvarden 2000; see also previous entry).

Significance: Causes a destructive red-brown cubical butt rot in mature Agathis australis.; Host(s): Agathis australis.