The Polyporales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota, subclass Agaricomycetidae. The order includes some (but not all) polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics (mainly in the genus Lentinus). Species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Those of economic importance include several important pathogens of forest and amenity trees and a few species that cause damage by rotting structural timber. Some of the Polyporales are commercially cultivated and marketed for use as food items or in traditional Chinese medicine.