Melanoleuca melaleuca

Last updated

Melanoleuca melaleuca
Melanoleuca melaleuca 325844 Koller 121121.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Tricholomataceae
Genus:
Melanoleuca
Species:
M. melaleuca
Binomial name
Melanoleuca melaleuca
Synonyms [1]

1801 Agaricus melaleucusPers.
1871 Tricholoma melaleucum(Pers.) P.Kumm.
1886 Gyrophila melaleuca(Pers.) Quél.
1887 Melaleuca vulgaris Pat.
1889 Boletopsis melaleuca(Pers.) Fayod
1897 Melanoleuca vulgaris(Pat.) Pat.

Contents

Melanoleuca melaleuca
Information icon.svg
Gills icon.pnggills on hymenium
Convex cap icon.svgUmbonate cap icon.svg cap is convex or umbonate
Emarginate gills icon2.svg hymenium is emarginate
Bare stipe icon.svg stipe is bare
Transparent spore print icon.svg
 spore print is white
Saprotrophic fungus.svgecology is saprotrophic
Mycomorphbox Question.pngedibility: unknown

Melanoleuca melaleuca is a species of mushroom in the family Tricholomataceae, and it is the type species of its genus Melanoleuca . It is difficult to distinguish from other related species firstly because it is variable, secondly because the taxonomic criteria are often based on characteristics which have later been found to be variable, and thirdly because there is much disagreement between authorities as to exactly how the species should be defined.

Description

This description is taken from several references, which generally agree except on microscopic features. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Due partly to the confused taxonomic definitions, this mushroom is very difficult to identify with certainty. Various authorities imply that around M. melaleuca there is a complex of closely related species without clear dividing lines, and that the current analysis (which varies from one author to another) requires more clarification. [4] [5] [6] Much of the taxonomic work on Melanoleuca has been done in Europe and the status of North American specimens is less certain. [7] However a 2012 paper by Vizzini et al. proposes updated definitions based on DNA analysis and suggests that some progress on these issues is being made. [8]

It is a widely distributed species, known from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceania. [9]

Like all Melanoleuca it is saprophytic, feeding on organic litter and not being associated with particular types of tree. [5]

A similar-looking species is M. angelesiana, but this does not have cystidia on its gills as does M. melaleuca. [2]

Both the species name melaleuca and the genus name Melanoleuca come from the same Ancient Greek words for black (μέλας / melas) and white (λευκόν / leukon). [10] [11] The species name was originated by the Swedish mycologist Persoon in his 1801 publication Synopsis Methodica Fungorum, [12] as Agaricus melaleucus. This formed the basis for the genus name Melanoleuca which was invented by Narcisse Théophile Patouillard in 1897 as a variant of Melaleuca. [13]

The underside of the cap is whitish, and the top of the cap and the stem are often quite a dark brown, but "black and white" is not a very accurate description in practice.

The species names of common animals are often identical to their genus names (as with Rattus rattus or Bufo bufo ), but this form of designation (known as a tautonym) is forbidden for plants and fungi by the International Code of Nomenclature. [14] Melanoleuca melaleuca narrowly circumvents this rule.

Patouillard had originally named the genus Melaleuca in 1887 and called the type species Melaleuca vulgaris, presumably to avoid a tautonym. [15] In 1897 Patouillard changed the name of the genus to Melanoleuca. [13] According to modern nomenclatural rules, the older genus name should normally take precedence, but an exception has been made by the International Botanical Congress and Melanoleuca has been declared a nomen conservandum , that is, a name which is to be considered valid irrespective of the rules of precedence. [16]

The American mycologist William Murrill devised the name Melanoleuca melaleuca in a 1911 article in the journal Mycologia . [17] If that is a valid name, again following modern rules, it should take precedence over Melanoleuca vulgaris as it refers to the original species name melaleucus. But in any case, Species Fungorum gives M. vulgaris as a synonym of M. polioleuca, rather than of M. melaleuca, [18] and Bon implies that M. vulgaris is equivalent to only part of M. melaleuca. [3]

In certain treatments of the genus, including Funga Nordica [5] and Flora Agaricina Neerlandica, [4] M. melaleuca is defined as having no cheilocystidia, but molecular analysis by Vizzini et al. makes it clear that these cystidia may sometimes appear and sometimes be missing in the same species of Melanoleuca, implying that this feature should not be used to characterize the mushroom. [8] Other treatments specify M. melaleuca as having fusiform cheilocystidia, but recognize a separate closely related species, Melanoleuca graminicola as having no cheilocystidia. [6] [7] [19] According to Index Fungorum the latter is a valid current name, [20] but the former two references consider M. graminicola to be a synonym of M. melaleuca.

According to its definition (which is admitted to be in need of revision), Funga Nordica also lists Melanoleuca brachyspora, Melanoleuca brevispora, Melanoleuca robertiana and Melanoleuca stridula as synonyms of M. melaleuca. [5]

The older treatments use various characteristics to delimit the species, for instance Moser distinguishes M. melaleuca as not having a pruinose cap, with a long stem in relation to the cap diameter, having a dark brownish cap colour, with stem not coarsely striate, and having white stem flesh.

Another species which has been confused with M. melaleuca is Melanoleuca polioleuca. In Species Fungorum (the part of Index Fungorum which evaluates current names), apart from the valid entry of M. melaleuca, there is an invalid one designated "Melanoleuca melaleuca sensu NCL" [21] which is said to be equivalent to the current M. polioleuca. [22] According to Courtecuisse, M. polioleuca is distinguished by having a dense white "pruina" (a powdery covering) on the stem and by the flesh inside the stem being dark cinnamon rather than pale. [23]

Edibility

This species is reported to be edible in both Europe and North America, [6] [19] [2] although information for the latter continent was unknown as late as 2006. [24] The confusion described in the previous section does not imply any particular culinary danger because (as far as is known) the closely related species are also edible. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Agaricus xanthodermus</i> Species of fungus

Agaricus xanthodermus, commonly known as the yellow-staining mushroom or simply the yellow-stainer, is a mushroom of the genus Agaricus, which displays a strong yellow colouration at the base of the stem when cut. It is poisonous for most people, causing gastrointestinal upset, but can be eaten by some without apparent negative effect.

<i>Pluteus</i> Genus of fungi

Pluteus is a large genus of fungi with over 300 species. They are wood rotting saprobes with pink spore prints and gills that are free from the stem.

<i>Pleurotus dryinus</i> Species of fungus

Pleurotus dryinus is a species of fungus in the family Pleurotaceae. It grows on dead wood and is also a weak pathogen; infecting especially broad-leaved trees.

<i>Pluteus leoninus</i>

Pluteus leoninus, commonly known as lion shield, can occasionally be found growing on dead wood in Europe and North Africa. The underside of the cap is typical of the genus Pluteus — the gills are pale, soon becoming pink when the spores ripen. But the upper surface is a bright tawny or olivaceous yellow. The species name leoninus refers to this cap colour.

<i>Melanoleuca</i> Genus of fungi

Melanoleuca is a poorly known genus of saprotrophic mushrooms traditionally classified in the family Tricholomataceae. Most are small to medium sized, white, brown, ocher or gray with a cylindrical to subcylindrical stipe and white to pale yellowish gills. The basidiospores are ellipsoid and ornamented with amyloid warts. Melanoleuca is considered a difficult group to study due to their macroscopic similarities among species and the need of a thorough microscopic analysis to separate species. DNA studies have determined that this genus is closely related to Amanita and Pluteus and that it does not belong to the family Tricholomataceae.

<i>Echinoderma asperum</i> Species of fungus

Echinoderma asperum or Lepiota aspera, sometimes known commonly as the freckled dapperling, is a large, brownish, white-gilled mushroom, with a warty or scaly cap. It lives in woodland, or on bark chips in parks, and gardens.

<i>Pholiota flammans</i> Species of fungus

Pholiota flammans, commonly known as the yellow pholiota, the flaming Pholiota, or the flame scalecap, is a basidiomycete agaric mushroom of the genus Pholiota. Its fruit body is golden-yellow in color throughout, while its cap and stem are covered in sharp scales. As it is a saprobic fungus, the fruit bodies typically appear in clusters on the stumps of dead coniferous trees. P. flammans is distributed throughout Europe, North America, and Asia in boreal and temperate regions. Its edibility has not been clarified.

<i>Suillellus queletii</i> Species of fungus

Suillellus queletii, commonly known as the deceiving bolete, is an uncommon, edible mushroom in the genus Suillellus.

<i>Lepiota clypeolaria</i> Species of fungus

Lepiota clypeolaria, commonly known as the shield dapperling or the shaggy-stalked Lepiota, is a common, poisonous mushroom in the genus Lepiota. It is widely distributed in northern temperate zones, where it grows in deciduous and coniferous forest. Fruit bodies have a brownish cap, a shaggy stipe with a collapsed, sheathing ring or ring zone, and spindle-shaped spores.

<i>Catathelasma imperiale</i> Species of fungus

Catathelasma imperiale is a large species of mushroom in the family Tricholomataceae. It is found in North America and Europe. It is also found and consumed in Bhutan.

<i>Mycena arcangeliana</i> Species of fungus

Mycena arcangeliana is a species of Mycenaceae fungus. It has been known by a number of scientific names, and its taxonomy is still somewhat disputed. It produces small mushrooms with caps varying in colour from whitish to a darker grey-brown, and stems of an olive-greyish that fade with age. The mushrooms can be mistaken for the similar Mycena flavescens. They have a mild taste, but a strong smell of iodoform; they are not edible. The species grows on dead wood in autumn months, and can be found throughout Europe.

<i>Agrocybe praecox</i> Species of fungus

Agrocybe praecox is a species of brown-spored edible mushroom which appears early in the year in woods, gardens and fields. According to modern taxonomic analysis it is just one of a cluster of closely similar species which are often referred to as the Agrocybe praecox complex. It is found in Europe, North Africa and North America.

<i>Volvariella surrecta</i> Species of fungus

Volvariella surrecta, commonly known as the piggyback rosegill, is an agaric fungus in the family Pluteaceae. Although rare, the species is widely distributed, having been reported from Asia, North America, Northern Africa, Europe, and New Zealand. The fungus grows as a parasite on the fruit bodies of other gilled mushrooms, usually Clitocybe nebularis. V. surrecta mushrooms have white or greyish silky-hairy caps up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter, and white gills that turns pink in maturity. The stipe, also white, is up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, and has a sack-like volva at its base.

<i>Volvopluteus earlei</i> Species of fungus

Volvopluteus earlei is a species of mushroom in the family Pluteaceae. It was originally described in 1911 by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill as Volvariopsis earlei, based on collections made in a Cuban banana field. The fungus was later shuffled to the genera Volvaria and Volvariella before molecular studies placed it in Volvopluteus, a genus newly described in 2011.

<i>Paralepista flaccida</i>

Paralepista flaccida is a species of mushroom found across the Northern Hemisphere. It is known to form fairy rings.

<i>Pleurotus cornucopiae</i>

Pleurotus cornucopiae is a species of edible fungus in the genus Pleurotus, It is quite similar to the better-known Pleurotus ostreatus, and like that species is cultivated and sold in markets in Europe and China, but it is distinguished because its gills are very decurrent, forming a network on the stem.

<i>Gymnopus fusipes</i>

Gymnopus fusipes is a parasitic species of gilled mushroom which is quite common in Europe and often grows in large clumps. It is variable but easy to recognize because the stipe soon becomes distinctively tough, bloated and ridged.

<i>Gymnopus peronatus</i> Species of fungus

Gymnopus peronatus is a species of gilled mushroom which is common in European woods. The English name wood woolly-foot has been given to this species.

<i>Mycetinis scorodonius</i> Species of fungus

Mycetinis scorodonius is one of the garlic-scented mushrooms formerly in the genus Marasmius, having a beige cap of up to 3 cm and a tough slender stipe.

Crepidotus applanatus Species of fungus

Crepidotus applanatus is a species of fungi in the family Crepidotaceae. It was first described in 1796 by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon and renamed by Paul Kummer in 1871. It is inedible.

References

  1. ↑ "Melanoleuca melaleuca (Pers.) Murrill 1911". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Davis, R. Michael; Sommer, Robert; Menge, John A. (2012). Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 157. ISBN   978-0-520-95360-4. OCLC   797915861.
  3. 1 2 3 Bon states that all species of Melanoleuca seem to be edible in "Marcel Bon (1987). The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-Western Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 164. ISBN   0-340-39935-X."
  4. 1 2 3 See "C. Bas, Th.W. Kuyper, M.E. Noordeloos et E.C. Vellinga (1999). Volume 4 of Flora Agaricina Neerlandica: Critical Monographs on Families of Agarics and Boleti Occurring in the Netherlands. Florida: CRC Press. p. 153.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)" An on-line preview is available through Google Books at .
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 For M. melaleuca and all the species mentioned, see "Funga Nordica. Copenhagen: Nordsvamp. 2008. pp. 347–348." The key to Melanoleuca from this work is available on-line in French as part of a "Champignons de Québec" Flickr forum at .
  6. 1 2 3 4 Robert Kühner & Henri Romagnesi (1974). Flore analytique des champignons supérieurs (agarics, bolets, chanterelles) (in French). Paris: Masson. pp. 146–147. ISBN   2-225-53713-5. This gives M. humilis, M. brevipes, M. melaleuca and M. graminicola as a few classical examples of species in the group of M. melaleuca, whose innumerable forms can't be specified at present.
  7. 1 2 3 See the Mushroom Expert entries on the genus, including M. melaleuca and M. graminicola .
  8. 1 2 Vizzini, Alfredo; Para, Roberto; Fontenla, Roberto; Ghignone, Stefano; Ercole, Enrico (2012). "A preliminary ITS phylogeny of Melanoleuca (Agaricales), with special reference to European taxa" (PDF). Mycotaxon. 118 (1): 361–381. doi:10.5248/118.361. hdl: 2318/91488 .
  9. ↑ Zhishu B, Zheng G, Taihui L (1993). The Macrofungus Flora of China's Guangdong Province (Chinese University Press). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. p. 328. ISBN   962-201-556-5.
  10. ↑ Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott. "λευκόν". A Greek-English Lexicon; Machine readable text. Tufts University, Oxford). Retrieved 2017-06-12.
  11. ↑ Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott. "μέλας". A Greek-English Lexicon; Machine readable text. Tufts University, Oxford). Retrieved 2017-06-12.
  12. ↑ Persoon CH. (1801). Synopsis Methodica Fungorum (in Latin). Gottingen: Apud H. Dieterich. p. 355.
  13. 1 2 The justification for the name Melanoleuca is the entry in Patouillard's book in which he simply refers to two species with that spelling instead of Melaleuca - perhaps the alteration was a mistake. Patouillard N. (1897). Exploration scientifique de la Tunisie. Catalogue raisonné des plantes cellulaires de la Tunisie (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. p. 22.
  14. ↑ See article 23.4 of McNeill, J.; Barrie, F.R.; Buck, W.R.; Demoulin, V.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D.L.; Herendeen, P.S.; Knapp, S.; Marhold, K.; Prado, J.; Prud'homme Van Reine, W.F.; Smith, G.F.; Wiersema, J.H.; Turland, N.J. (2012). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011. Vol. Regnum Vegetabile 154. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG. ISBN   978-3-87429-425-6.
  15. ↑ Patouillard N. (1887). Les Hyménomycètes d'Europe. Anatomie et Classification des Champignons Supérieurs (in French). Vol. 4. Paris: Paul Klincksieck. p. 96.
  16. ↑ See article 14 and appendix IIIB of "J. McNeill; et al. (2006). International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (VIENNA CODE). Vienna: A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG. ISBN   3-906166-48-1. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06."
  17. ↑ Murrill WA. (1911). "Illustrations of fungi – IX". Mycologia . 3 (4): 165–69. doi:10.2307/3753083. JSTOR   3753083.
  18. ↑ This Index Fungorum link shows M. polioleuca as the current name of M. vulgaris.
  19. 1 2 See Meinhard Moser, translated by Simon Plant (1983). Keys to Agarics and Boleti. London: Roger Phillips. pp. 147–149. ISBN   0-9508486-0-3.
  20. ↑ M. graminicola is in Species Fungorum here as a separate species. Also two different invalid meanings of M. graminicola are listed!
  21. ↑ "sensu NCL" means "in the sense of R. W. G. Dennis, P. D. Orton & F. Bayard Hora (1960). New check list of British agarics and boleti. London & New York: Cambridge University Press." This is also largely available on the internet as transactions of the British Mycological Society (for instance http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59351/0043/index.htm#2).
  22. ↑ This Index Fungorum link is for the invalid "sensu NCL" interpretation.
  23. ↑ Courtecuisse, R. & Duhem, B. (1994). Guide des champignons de France et d'Europe. Delachaux et Niestlé. p. 204. ISBN   2-603-00953-2. Also available in English.
  24. ↑ Miller Jr., Orson K.; Miller, Hope H. (2006). North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi. Guilford, CN: FalconGuide. p. 113. ISBN   978-0-7627-3109-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.