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: No published description of New Zealand material of Phaeolus schweinitzii sensu stricto is available. The following description has been adapted from Ryvarden (1978). Basidiomata annual, compound, composed of several pilei arising from a common base, soft and fleshy when fresh, brittle when dry. Pilei fan-shaped up to 200 mm in diameter. Pileus surface tomentose to hirsute, first bright yellowish, later deep golden to reddish brown, margin usually distinctly lighter than the rest of the pileus. Pore surface yellowish at first, rusty brown later; pores large, angular, 0.3–1 per mm. Context golden to rusty brown, up to 10 mm thick. Hyphal system monomitic. Cystidia numerous, club-shaped to conical, 30–150 × 6–20 mm, hyaline to distinctly dark brown, often projecting up to 50 μm above the hymenium. Basidiospores ellipsoid, 0-septate, 5–8 × 3–5 μm, smooth, hyaline.

Distribution: Auckland, Dunedin, Southland.; 1st Record: Buchanan & Ryvarden (2000); Buchanan (2003).

Significance: Phaeolus schweinitzii is a common cause of butt rot in mature trees in boreal coniferous forests, lessening the value of the butt log and making trees prone to windthrow. As young trees are very rarely attacked, it is unlikely that the fungus will pose a threat to short-rotation plantation forests.; Host(s): Pinus radiata.