Fruiting body 5-8 cm wide, semicircular, sessile, growing laterally, sometimes narrowed at the base, thin, felty on top, concentrically furrowed, with weak zones, first gray, then gray-brown, gray-ocher, sometimes almost black at the base or green from moss, with a lighter, sometimes whitish wavy edge.
The tubular layer is initially medium-porous, then dissected, with elongated, characteristically tortuous pores inclined to the base, gray, gray-cream, gray-brown.
The flesh is initially leathery, then hard, cork-like, separated from the upper felt layer by a thin black strip, whitish or yellowish, with a sharp spicy smell.
In nature, it grows everywhere from early June to late autumn on dead wood, hardwood stumps (birch, alder), near roads, lawns. Last year's dry bodies are often found in the spring.
Single-colored cerena is harvested or grown exclusively for medical purposes.