Fomitopsis betulina

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Fomitopsis betulina
Piptoporus betulinus 55.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Polyporales
Family: Fomitopsidaceae
Genus: Fomitopsis
Species:
F. betulina
Binomial name
Fomitopsis betulina
(Bull.) B.K.Cui, M.L.Han & Y.C.Dai (2016)
Synonyms
  • Boletus betulinusBull. (1788)
  • Piptoporus betulinus(Bull.) P.Karst. (1881)
Fomitopsis betulina
Information icon.svg
Pores icon.pngPores on hymenium
No cap icon.svgNo distinct cap
Decurrent gills icon2.svg Hymenium is decurrent
NA cap icon.svgLacks a stipe
Transparent spore print icon.svg
 Spore print is white
Parasitic fungus.svgEcology is parasitic
Mycomorphbox Inedible.pngEdibility is inedible

Fomitopsis betulina (previously Piptoporus betulinus), commonly known as the birch polypore, birch bracket, or razor strop, is a common bracket fungus and, as the name suggests, grows almost exclusively on birch trees. The brackets burst out from the bark of the tree, and these fruit bodies can last for more than a year.

Contents

Taxonomy

The fungus was originally described by Jean Bulliard in 1788 as Boletus betulinus. [1] It was transferred to the genus Piptoporus by Petter Karsten in 1881. [2] Molecular phylogenetic studies suggested that the species was more closely related to Fomitopsis than to Piptoporus, [3] [4] and the fungus was reclassified to Fomitopsis in 2016. [5]

The specific epithet betulina refers to the genus of the host plant ( Betula ). [6] Common names for the fungus include birch bracket, [7] birch polypore, and razorstrop fungus. [8]

Description

The fruit bodies (basidiocarps) are pale, with a smooth greyish-brown top surface, while the creamy white underside has hundreds of pores that contain the spores. The fruit body has a rubbery texture, becoming corky with age. [6] Wood decayed by the fungus, and cultures of its mycelium, often smell distinctly of green apples. [9] The spores are cylindrical to ellipsoidal in shape, and measure 3–6 by 1.5–2  μm. [10]

Fomitopsis betulina has a bipolar mating system [11] where monokaryons or germinating spores can only mate and form a fertile dikaryon with an individual that possesses a different mating-type factor. There are at least 33 different mating-type factors within the British population of this fungus. [12] These factors are all variants or alleles of a single gene, as opposed to the tetrapolar mating system of some other basidiomycete species, which involves two genes. [13]

It is considered inedible. [14]

Range and ecology

Variations in size, shape, and surface colour of birch bracket Variation in size and colour of the Piptoporus betulinus (Birch Polypore or Razorstrop Fungus or Birch Bracket, D= Birchenporling, F= Polypore du bouleau, NL= Berkenzwam), white spores, causes brownrot at Schaarsbergen - panoramio.jpg
Variations in size, shape, and surface colour of birch bracket
Three young fungi on a birch trunk. Berkenzwam (Piptoporus betulinus) (d.j.b.) 02.jpg
Three young fungi on a birch trunk.

Fomitopsis betulina is one of the most common species of brown rot fungi. [15] The geographic distribution of F. betulina appears to be restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, including Northern America, Europe, and Asia. [16] It is only found on birch trees, including Betula pendula , B. pubescens , B. papyrifera , and B. obscura . [15] There is some doubt about the ability of isolates from the European continent, North America and the British Isles to interbreed. [11]

It is a necrotrophic parasite on weakened birches, and will cause brown rot and eventually death, being one of the most common fungi visible on dead birches. It is likely that the birch bracket fungus becomes established in small wounds and broken branches and may lie dormant for years, compartmentalised into a small area by the tree's own defence mechanisms, until something occurs to weaken the tree. Fire, drought and suppression by other trees are common causes of such stress. [9]

In most infections there is only one fungal individual present, but occasionally several individuals may be isolated from a single tree, and in these cases it is possible that the birch bracket fungus entered after something else killed the tree. These fungal "individuals" can sometimes be seen if a slice of brown-rotted birch wood is incubated in a plastic bag for several days. This allows the white mycelium of the fungus to grow out of the surface of the wood. If more than one individual dikaryon is present, lines of intraspecific antagonism form as the two individual mycelia interact and repel each other. [11]

The fungus can harbor a large number of species of insects that depend on it for food and as breeding sites. In a large-scale study of over 2600 fruit bodies collected in eastern Canada, 257 species of arthropods, including 172 insects and 59 mites, were found. [17] The fungus is eaten by the caterpillars of the fungus moth Nemaxera betulinella . [18] Old fruit bodies that have survived the winter are often colonized by the white to pale yellow fungus Hypocrea pulmonata . [19]

Research on chemical constituents

Fomitopsis betulina has been widely used in traditional medicines, and has been extensively researched for its phytochemistry and pharmacological activity. [20] Phytochemicals include phenolic acids, indole compounds, sterols, and triterpenes, especially betulin and betulinic acid. [21]

Agaric acid found in the fruit body of the fungus, is poisonous to the parasitic whipworm Trichuris trichiura. [22] The fungus was carried by "Ötzi the Iceman" – the 5,300 year old mummy found in Tyrol, with speculation that the fungus may have been used as a laxative to expel whipworm. [22]

Uses

The velvety cut surface of the fruit body was traditionally used as a strop for finishing the edges on razors, [16] and as a mounting material for insect collections. [6] It has also been used as tinder and anesthetic. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basidiomycota</span> Division of fungi

Basidiomycota is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basidiomycota includes these groups: agarics, puffballs, stinkhorns, bracket fungi, other polypores, jelly fungi, boletes, chanterelles, earth stars, smuts, bunts, rusts, mirror yeasts, and Cryptococcus, the human pathogenic yeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polyporales</span> Order of fungi

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polypore</span> Group of fungi

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.

<i>Laetiporus sulphureus</i> Species of fungus

Laetiporus sulphureus is a species of bracket fungus found in Europe and North America. Its common names are sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken-of-the-woods. Its fruit bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Old fruitbodies fade to pale beige or pale grey. The undersurface of the fruit body is made up of tubelike pores rather than gills.

<i>Fomitopsis pinicola</i> Stem decay fungus

Fomitopsis pinicola, is a stem decay fungus common on softwood and hardwood trees. Its conk is known as the red-belted conk. The species is common throughout temperate Europe and Asia. It is a decay fungus that serves as a small-scale disturbance agent in coastal rainforest ecosystems. It influences stand structure and succession in temperate rainforests. It performs essential nutrient cycling functions in forests. As well as a key producer of brown rot residues that are stable soil components in coniferous forest ecosystems. It has been reported that mushrooms have significant antioxidant activity.

<i>Ganoderma applanatum</i> Species of fungus

Ganoderma applanatum is a bracket fungus with a cosmopolitan distribution.

<i>Laricifomes officinalis</i> Species of fungus

Laricifomes officinalis, also known as agarikon, eburiko, or the quinine conk, is a wood-decay fungus that causes brown heart rot on conifers native to Europe, Asia, and North America, as well as Morocco. This fungus is the only member of the genus Laricifomes, in the order Polyporales. The fruiting bodies grow in large conks on the trunks of trees.

<i>Phaeolus schweinitzii</i> Species of fungus

Phaeolus schweinitzii, commonly known as velvet-top fungus, dyer's polypore, dyer's mazegill, or pine dye polypore, is a fungal plant pathogen that causes butt rot on conifers such as Douglas-fir, spruce, fir, hemlock, pine, and larch. P. schweinitzii is a polypore, although unlike bracket fungi the fruiting body may appear terrestrial when growing from the roots or base of the host tree.

<i>Tyromyces chioneus</i> Species of fungus

Tyromyces chioneus, commonly known as the white cheese polypore, is a species of polypore fungus. A widely distributed fungus, it has a circumpolar distribution, in temperate boreal pine forests, of Asia, Europe, and North America, causes white rot in dead hardwood trees, especially birch.

<i>Meripilus giganteus</i> Species of fungus

Meripilus giganteus is a polypore fungus in the family Meripilaceae. It causes a white rot in various types of broadleaved trees, particularly beech (Fagus), but also Abies, Picea, Pinus, Quercus and Ulmus species. This bracket fungus, commonly known as the giant polypore or black-staining polypore, is often found in large clumps at the base of trees, although fruiting bodies are sometimes found some distance away from the trunk, parasitizing the roots. M. giganteus has a circumboreal distribution in the northern Hemisphere, and is widely distributed in Europe. In the field, it is recognizable by the large, multi-capped fruiting body, as well as its pore surface that quickly darkens black when bruised or injured.

<i>Fomitopsis</i> Genus of fungi

Fomitopsis is a genus of more than 40 species of bracket fungi in the family Fomitopsidaceae.

<i>Fomitopsis quercina</i> Species of fungus

Fomitopsis quercina is a species of mushroom in the order Polyporales. Commonly known as the thick-walled maze polypore, maze-gill fungusoak-loving maze polypore, or oak mazegill, the specific epithet refers to the oak genus Quercus, upon which it frequently grows, causing a brown rot. It is found in Europe, Asia, Northern Africa and Australasia. Though inedible, it can be used as a natural comb and has been the subject of chemical research.

<i>Inonotus dryadeus</i> Bracket fungus that attacks oak trees

Inonotus dryadeus, commonly known as oak bracket, warted oak polypore, weeping polypore or weeping conk, is an inedible species of fungus belonging to the genus Inonotus, which consists of bracket fungi with fibrous flesh. Most often found growing at the base of oak trees, it causes white rot and decay of the trunks. It secretes an amber liquid which weeps from tubes in its upper surface.

<i>Fomes fomentarius</i> Species of fungus

Fomes fomentarius is a species of fungal plant pathogen found in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. The species produces very large polypore fruit bodies which are shaped like a horse's hoof and vary in colour from a silvery grey to almost black, though they are normally brown. It grows on the side of various species of tree, which it infects through broken bark, causing rot. The species typically continues to live on trees long after they have died, changing from a parasite to a decomposer.

<i>Phellinus ellipsoideus</i> Species of fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae found in China

Phellinus ellipsoideus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae, a specimen of which produced the largest fungal fruit body ever recorded. Found in China, the fruit bodies produced by the species are brown, woody basidiocarps that grow on dead wood, where the fungus feeds as a saprotroph. The basidiocarps are perennial, allowing them to grow very large under favourable circumstances. They are resupinate, measuring 30 centimetres (12 in) or more in length, though typically extending less than a centimetre from the surface of the wood. P. ellipsoideus produces distinct ellipsoidal spores, after which it is named, and unusual setae. These two features allow it to be readily differentiated microscopically from other, similar species. Chemical compounds isolated from the species include several steroidal compounds. These may have pharmacological applications, but further research is needed.

<i>Lenzites warnieri</i> Species of fungus

Lenzites warnieri is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae found in parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. The species is a white rot pathogen on living wood. Its corky fruiting bodies in the shape of semicircular plates form on the trunks of several types of deciduous trees growing near water bodies in regions of moist sub-Mediterranean climate. The fruiting body, which has a lamellar fruit layer, produces spores only once.

<i>Hapalopilus rutilans</i> Species of fungus

Hapalopilus rutilans is a species of polypore fungus in the family Polyporaceae. Officially described in 1821, it was transferred to its current genus Hapalopilus six decades later. It is commonly known as the tender nesting polypore, purple dye polypore, or the cinnamon bracket. This widely distributed species is found on five continents. It grows on the fallen or standing dead wood of deciduous trees, in which it fruits singly, in groups, fused, or in overlapping clusters. Fruit bodies are in the form of kidney-shaped to semicircular, cinnamon-orange-brown brackets. The underside of the fruit body features a yellowish to brownish pore surface with tiny angular pores, from which spores are released.

<i>Rhodofomitopsis lilacinogilva</i> Species of fungus

Rhodofomitopsis lilacinogilva is a species of bracket fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. Known primarily from Australia, it has also been recorded from Brazil and India. It is a white-rot fungus that grows on rotting eucalyptus wood. Its main identifying feature is the lilac colour of the pore surface on the underside of the fruit body.

<i>Nigroporus vinosus</i> Species of fungus

Nigroporus vinosus is a species of poroid fungus in the family Steccherinaceae, and the type species of the genus Nigroporus. Its fruit bodies have brownish caps with tinges of purple or red. The cap underside has a pore surface the same colour as the cap, and minute pores. Nigroporus vinosus has a pantropical distribution. It has been recorded from Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Oceania. It is a wood-decay fungus that causes a white rot.

<i>Hexagonia vesparia</i> Species of fungus

Hexagonia vesparia, sometimes known as the wasp nest polypore, is a bracket fungus in the Polyporaceae family occurring mainly in tropical and coastal regions in Australia, but it has also been recorded in semi arid regions of Australia. The genus name came from the Latin word hexagonus meaning with six angles.

References

  1. ↑ Bulliard, Jean (1787). Herbier de la France (in French). Vol. 7. p. plate 312.
  2. ↑ Karsten, P.A. (1881). "Enumeratio Hydnearum Fr. Fennicarum, systemate novo dispositarum". Revue Mycologique, Toulouse (in Latin). 3 (9): 17.
  3. ↑ Kim, K.M.; Yoon, Y.-G.; Jung, H.S. (2005). "Evaluation of the monophyly of Fomitopsis using parsimony and MCMC methods". Mycology. 97 (4): 812–822. doi:10.1080/15572536.2006.11832773. PMID   16457351. S2CID   203881210.
  4. ↑ Ortiz-Santana, B.; Lindner, D.L.; Miettinen, O.; Justo, A.; Hibbett, D.S. (2013). "A phylogenetic overview of the antrodia clade (Basidiomycota, Polyporales)". Mycologia. 105 (6): 1391–1411. doi:10.3852/13-051. PMID   23935025. S2CID   6647648.
  5. ↑ Han, M.L.; Chen, Y.Y.; Shen, L.L.; Song, J.; Vlasak, J.; Dai, Y.C.; Cui, B.K. (2016). "Taxonomy and phylogeny of the brown-rot Fungi: Fomitopsis and its related genera". Fungal Diversity. 80 (1): 343–373. doi:10.1007/s13225-016-0364-y. S2CID   34923876.
  6. 1 2 3 Roody, William C. (2003). Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 381. ISBN   978-0-8131-9039-6.
  7. ↑ Allaby, Michael (2015). The Dictionary of Science for Gardeners: 6000 Scientific Terms Explored and Explained. Timber Press. p. 76. ISBN   978-1-60469-715-5.
  8. ↑ Holden, Liz (March 2016). "English names for fungi". British Mycological Society. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  9. 1 2 Adams, T J H (1982). Piptoporus betulinus: Some aspects of population biology. (PhD thesis): Exeter University.
  10. ↑ Michael Kuo; Andy Methven (2010). 100 Cool Mushrooms. University of Michigan Press. p. 141. ISBN   978-0-472-03417-8.
  11. 1 2 3 Adams, T.J.H.; Todd, N.K.; Rayner, A.D.M. (1981). "Antagonism between dikaryons of Piptoporus betulinus". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 76 (3): 510–513. doi:10.1016/s0007-1536(81)80085-x.
  12. ↑ Cant, D (1980). Population studies on Piptoporus betulinus with special reference to the mating system. (PhD thesis): Lancaster University.
  13. ↑ Burnett, J H (1975). Mycogenetics: Introduction to the General Genetics of Fungi. Wiley. p. 390. ISBN   978-0-471-12445-0.
  14. 1 2 Phillips, Roger (2010). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 313. ISBN   978-1-55407-651-2.
  15. 1 2 Pleszczyńska, Małgorzata; Lemieszek, Marta K.; Siwulski, Marek; Wiater, Adrian; Rzeski, Wojciech; Szczodrak, Janusz (2017). "Fomitopsis betulina (formerly Piptoporus betulinus): the Iceman's polypore fungus with modern biotechnological potential". World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology. 33 (5): 83. doi:10.1007/s11274-017-2247-0. PMC   5380686 . PMID   28378220.
  16. 1 2 Roberts, Peter; Evans, Shelley (2011). The Book of Fungi. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p. 406. ISBN   978-0-226-72117-0.
  17. ↑ Quentin Wheeler; Meredith Blackwell (1984). Fungus-Insect Relationships: Perspectives in Ecology and Evolution. Columbia University Press. p. 147. ISBN   978-0-231-05695-3.
  18. ↑ Gaedike, Reinhard (2015). Tineidae I: (Dryadaulinae, Hapsiferinae, Euplocaminae, Scardiinae, Nemapogoninae and Meessiinae). Microlepidoptera of Europe. Vol. 7. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 37–38. ISBN   978-90-04-28916-1.
  19. ↑ Ryvarden, Leif; Melo, I. (2014). Poroid Fungi of Europe. Synopsis Fungorum. Vol. 31. Oslo, Norway: Fungiflora. pp. 346–347. ISBN   978-8290724462.
  20. ↑ Guevara-Gonzalez, Ramon; Torres-Pacheco, Irineo (2014). Biosystems Engineering: Biofactories for Food Production in the Century XXI. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 154. ISBN   978-3-319-03880-3.
  21. ↑ Sułkowska-Ziaja K, et al. (2018). "Chemical composition and biological activity of extracts from fruiting bodies and mycelial cultures of Fomitopsis betulina". Mol Biol Rep. 45 (6): 2535–2544. doi:10.1007/s11033-018-4420-4. PMC   6267243 . PMID   30317427.
  22. 1 2 Capasso, L. (1998). "5300 years ago, the Ice Man used natural laxatives and antibiotics". Lancet. 352 (9143): 1864. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)79939-6 . PMID   9851424. S2CID   40027370.
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