The Polyporales are an order of about 1800 species of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics. Many species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters. Some genera, such as Ganoderma and Fomes, contain species that attack living tissues and then continue to degrade the wood of their dead hosts. 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.
Polypores are a group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside. They are a morphological group of basidiomycetes-like gilled mushrooms and hydnoid fungi, and not all polypores are closely related to each other. Polypores are also called bracket fungi or shelf fungi, and they characteristically produce woody, shelf- or bracket-shaped or occasionally circular fruiting bodies that are called conks.
Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resulted in a darkly colored deteriorated and cracked condition.
The Hymenochaetales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order in its current sense is based on molecular research and not on any unifying morphological characteristics. According to one 2008 estimate, the Hymenochaetales contain around 600 species worldwide, mostly corticioid fungi and poroid fungi, but also including several clavarioid fungi and agarics. Species of economic importance include wood decay fungi in the genera Phellinus and Inonotus sensu lato, some of which may cause losses in forestry. Therapeutic properties are claimed for Inonotus obliquus ("chaga") and Phellinus linteus, both of which are now commercially marketed.
Calocera cornea is a jelly fungus that grows on decaying wood. It is a member of the Dacrymycetales, an order of fungi characterized by their unique "tuning fork" basidia.
Omphalotus is a genus of basidiomycete mushroom, in the family Marasmiaceae, formally circumscribed by Victor Fayod in 1889. Members have the traditional cap and stem toadstool form. They are saprobic, and fruit in clumps on trees. The best known and type species is the jack-o'-lantern mushroom (Omphalotus olearius). Species of Omphalotus have been mistaken for chanterelles. All Omphalotus species are presumed poisonous, causing gastrointestinal symptoms. Some Omphalotus species have bioluminescent properties.
A wood-decay or xylophagous fungus is any species of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some species of wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as brown rot, and some, such as Armillaria, are parasitic and colonize living trees. Excessive moisture above the fibre saturation point in wood is required for fungal colonization and proliferation. Fungi that not only grow on wood but permeate its fibrous structure and actually cause decay, are called lignicolous fungi. In nature, this process causes the breakdown of complex molecules and leads to the return of nutrients to the soil. Various lignicolous fungi consume wood in various ways; for example, some attack the carbohydrates in wood and some others decay lignin. The rate of decay of wooden materials in various climates can be estimated by empirical models.
Ganoderma is a genus of polypore fungi in the family Ganodermataceae that includes about 80 species, many from tropical regions. They have a high genetic diversity and is used in traditional Asian medicines. Ganoderma can be differentiated from other polypores because they have a double-walled basidiospore. They may be called shelf mushrooms or bracket fungi.
Daedaleopsis confragosa, commonly known as the thin walled maze polypore or the blushing bracket, is a species of polypore fungus in the family Polyporaceae. A plant pathogen, it causes a white rot of injured hardwoods, especially willows. The fruit bodies are semicircular and tough, have a concentrically zoned brownish upper surface, and measure up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter. The whitish underside turns gray-brown as the fruit body ages, but bruises pink or red. It is found all year and is common in northern temperate woodlands of eastern North America, Europe, and Asia. The species was first described from Europe in 1791 as a form of Boletus, and has undergone several changes of genus in its taxonomic history. It acquired its current name when Joseph Schröter transferred it to Daedaleopsis in 1888.
Phanerochaete is a genus of crust fungi in the family Phanerochaetaceae.
Spalting is any form of wood coloration caused by fungi. Although primarily found in dead trees, spalting can also occur in living trees under stress. Although spalting can cause weight loss and strength loss in the wood, the unique coloration and patterns of spalted wood are sought by woodworkers.
Cyathus is a genus of fungi in the Nidulariaceae, a family collectively known as the bird's nest fungi. They are given this name since they resemble tiny bird's nests filled with "eggs", structures large enough to have been mistaken in the past for seeds. However, these are now known to be reproductive structures containing spores. The "eggs", or peridioles, are firmly attached to the inner surface of this fruit body by an elastic cord of mycelia known as a funiculus. The 45 species are widely distributed throughout the world and some are found in most countries, although a few exist in only one or two locales. Cyathus stercoreus is considered endangered in a number of European countries. Species of Cyathus are also known as splash cups, which refers to the fact that falling raindrops can knock the peridioles out of the open-cup fruit body. The internal and external surfaces of this cup may be ridged longitudinally ; this is one example of a taxonomic characteristic that has traditionally served to distinguish between species.
Hygrophoropsis is a genus of gilled fungi in the family Hygrophoropsidaceae. It was circumscribed in 1888 to contain the type species, H. aurantiaca, a widespread fungus that, based on its appearance, has been affiliated with Cantharellus, Clitocybe, and Paxillus. Modern molecular phylogenetic analysis shows that the genus belongs to the suborder Coniophorineae of the order Boletales.
Trogia is a genus of fungi in the family Marasmiaceae. It is named after a Swiss mycologist Jacob Gabriel Trog. The genus contains about 20 species that are widely distributed in tropical areas.
Jaapia is a genus in the monotypic family Jaapiaceae and order Jaapiales. The genus was first described by Italian mycologist Giacomo Bresadola in 1911, contains two widely distributed species, J. argillacea and J. ochroleuca.The order was described in 2010. Jaapia is a genus of resupinate species that were until then classified in the order Boletales. Molecular phylogenetics analysis showed it to be a sister group to the rest of the Agaricomycetidae.
Dacryopinax elegans is a species of jelly fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. It was originally formally described as Guepinia elegans by Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis in 1849. George Willard Martin transferred it to the genus Dacryopinax in 1948.
Guepiniopsis alpina, commonly known as the jelly cup, alpine jelly cone, or poor man's gumdrop, is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. The small, gelatinous Fruit bodies are orange and cone or cup shaped. Found in western North America and Iran, the fungus grows on decaying conifer wood.
Robert Francis Ross McNabb was a New Zealand mycologist. He was born in Kawakawa, and attended local schools in his youth, including Whangarei Boys' High School and Southland Boys' High School. He received a BSc degree from the University of Otago in 1956, and two years later an MSc for his work on mycorrhizae morphology in native New Zealand plants. In 1961, having been awarded a National Research Fellowship the year before, McNabb left New Zealand for the UK to study with Cecil Terence Ingold at Birkbeck College. McNabb earned a PhD in 1963; his thesis was titled "Taxonomic studies in the Dacrymycetaceae". He was jointly awarded the Hamilton Memorial Prize in 1966 from The Royal Society of New Zealand, the same year he was appointed to the editorial board of the New Zealand Journal of Botany. Most of McNabb's later publications, largely published in this journal, were about fungal taxonomy. Fungus species named in honor of McNabb include Paxillus mcnabbii, and Entoloma mcnabbianum.
Phialophora fastigiata is a mitosporic, saprophytic fungus commonly found in soil, and on wood, and wood-pulp. This species was initially placed in the genus Cadophora but was later transferred to the genus Phialophora based on morphological and growth characteristics. In culture, P. fastigiata produces olive-brown, velvety colonies. The fungus is recognizable microscopically due to the presence of distinctive, funnel-shaped cuffs (collarettes) encircling the tips of phialides that bear slimy conidia. The fungus is often implicated in soft-rot wood decay due to its ability to degrade lignin, cellulose and pectin. It has also been reported to cause blue staining of wood and wood pulp.
Hypsizygus ulmarius, also known as the elm oyster mushroom, and less commonly as the elm leech, elm Pleurotus, is an edible fungus. It has often been confused with oyster mushrooms in the Pleurotus genus but can be differentiated easily as the gills are either not decurrent or not deeply decurrent. While not quite as common as true oyster mushrooms, they have a wide range globally in temperate forests. The mushrooms and vegetative hyphae of this species have been studied in recent years for their potential benefits to human health, and mycoremediation.
