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Types of fungal fruiting bodies (or sporocarps)

Stereoid & paint (skin) fungi

Stereoid fungi (NOT fungi on steroids) often resemble some of the bracket-like polypore fungi, in that there's a thin plate growing out of some wood. Stereum ostrea is a widespread example of this group. In fact, at one time, all members of this group were placed in the genus Stereum - hence the term stereoid.

Stereum ostrea

However, the polypores have pores on the underside but the stereoid fungi have smooth, rather than pored, undersides. Remember that the pores in some of the polypores are very small (10 or more per millimetre). So to tell if you have a polypore or a stereoid fungus, you'll sometimes need to use a hand lens or magnifying glass to check the underside for any pores. Many stereoid fungi start out looking like the paint fungi before they produce the bracket-like growth.

A few stereoid fungi are centrally stemmed, rather then being bracket-like. Cymatoderma elegans is an example.

Skin or paint fungi.

All of the above examples are markedly three-dimensional. The skin or paint fungi are basically two-dimensional and in many cases one of these fruiting bodies looks just like a layer of paint on the underside of wood lying on the ground. The "paint" layer may be thin or thick, it may be smooth or with some wrinkles, bumps, or very short spines. The technical name for these is corticioid fungi. Here's a species of Exidiopsis, looking like no more than a blue-grey smear on some rotten wood. Hyphodontia australis is another corticioid species, this time with short teeth.

Exidiopsis sp.

Hyphodontia australis