It peels like old paint. The bracket is thin. Membranous. The upper surface is zoned in browns. Ochre. Tan. Russet. The zones run in concentric rings. Each ring marks a period of growth. The bracket extends outward. A millimetre. Two millimetres. Then it stops. Rain starts again. The bracket grows again. A new ring forms. The lower surface is smooth. Pale. Yellowish-grey. No pores. No gills. No teeth. Just a flat surface. Spores eject from it. They land on the wind. They land on wood. The bracket persists. It shrinks in dry weather. It expands in wet weather. It flexes. It does not break. It is tough. Like parchment. Like leather. The name fits. Habitat is any forest with fallen wood. Native forest. Plantation forest. Urban bush remnants. Roadside scrub. The fungus does not discriminate. It grows on beech. On rimu. On pine. On eucalyptus. On oak. On apple. The wood must be dead. The bark must be intact or recently fallen. The bracket attaches to the underside of branches. It grows in tiers. One above the other. Shelving outward. A single branch may host fifty brackets. The branch decomposes slowly. The brackets persist for years. Old ones darken. New ones form at the edges. The colony spreads. Range across New Zealand is continuous. North Island from Northland to Wellington. South Island from Nelson to Southland. Stewart Island. Chatham Islands. The species also occurs worldwide. Europe. Asia. North America. South America. Africa. It is one of the most widespread wood-decay fungi. The New Zealand population is not unique. It arrived naturally. Spores crossed the Tasman. Or the Pacific. The timing is unknown. The fungus has been here long enough to look native. It behaves like a native. It grows on native trees. It competes with native fungi. It wins some battles. It loses others. Diet is saprotrophic. Stereum ostrea causes a white rot in the wood of its host. It digests lignin and cellulose. The wood becomes pale. Fibrous. Stringy. The bracket does not kill living trees. It grows on dead wood. Fallen branches. Standing dead trunks. The wood must be damp. Not wet. The bracket tolerates drying. It shrivels. It curls. It looks dead. Rain returns. The bracket expands. It resumes sporulation within hours. The recovery is fast. The fungus is resilient. It survives where other bracket fungi cannot. Exposed branches. Sunny edges. Windy ridges. The parchment fungus persists. Threats are minimal. The species is common. It is widespread. It grows on introduced trees. Plantation forestry provides habitat. Pine logs support it. Eucalyptus logs support it. Urban trees provide fallen branches. The fungus does not need native forest. It does not need large logs. It grows on twigs. On fence posts. On garden waste. The only threat is competition. Other bracket fungi displace it on certain substrates. In wet forests, Trametes versicolor outcompetes it. In dry forests, it holds its own. The balance shifts with climate. The parchment fungus adapts. It has always adapted. It will continue.