A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. Toadstool generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The Polyporales are an order of about 1,800 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.
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. Over one thousand polypore species have been described to science, but a large part of the diversity is still unknown even in relatively well-studied temperate areas.
Fomitopsis betulina, 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.
In mycology, a lamella, or gill, is a papery hymenophore rib under the cap of some mushroom species, most often agarics. The gills are used by the mushrooms as a means of spore dispersal, and are important for species identification. The attachment of the gills to the stem is classified based on the shape of the gills when viewed from the side, while color, crowding and the shape of individual gills can also be important features. Additionally, gills can have distinctive microscopic or macroscopic features. For instance, Lactarius species typically seep latex from their gills.
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.
Trametes versicolor – also known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor – is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning 'of several colors', versicolor accurately describes this fungus that displays a unique blend of markings. Additionally, owing to its shape being similar to that of a wild turkey's tail feathers, T. versicolor is most commonly referred to as turkey tail. A similar-looking mushroom commonly called "false turkey tail" is from a different order (Stereum), and thus may sometimes be confused with the 'true' turkey tail mushroom, T. versicolor. Another lookalike is the multicolor gill polypore, T. betulina.
Irpex lacteus is a common crust fungus distributed throughout temperate areas of the world. It is the type of the genus Irpex. Irpex lacteus is considered a polypore, but depending on growth conditions it can also produce a hydnoid hymenophore. Due to this variability and abundance of the species it has been described as a new species to science numerous times and subsequently has an extensive synonymy. The complete genome sequence of Irpex lacteus was reported in 2017.
Gloeophyllum sepiarium, the rusty gilled polypore, is a wood decay fungus that causes a brown rot. Gloeophyllum sepiarium grows in thin, dark brown/green brackets on dead conifers. Often found on wood in lumberyards, the fruiting body grows for only one year, and produces spores in late summer and autumn. Its hymenial surface is distinctive from other polypores due to the presence of gills. Gloeophyllum sepiarium is inedible.
Cerrena unicolor, commonly known as the mossy maze polypore, is a species of poroid fungus in the genus Cerrena. This saprobic fungus causes white rot.
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.
Trametes elegans, also known as Lenzites elegans and Daedalea elegans, is a common polypore and wood-decay fungus with a pantropical distribution found on hardwood hosts in regions including Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. It has recently been suggested to be a complex of three different species: T. elegans,T. aesculi, and T. repanda.
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, also known as the cinnabar polypore, is a saprophytic, white-rot decomposer. Its fruit body is a bright orange shelf fungus. It is common in many areas and is widely distributed throughout the world. It is inedible. It produces cinnabarinic acid to protect itself from bacteria.
Trametes pubescens is a small, thin species of polypore, or bracket fungus. It has a cream-colored, finely velvety cap surface. Unlike most other turkey tail-like species of Trametes, the cap surface lacks strongly contrasting zones of color.
Trametes is a genus of fungi that is distinguished by a pileate basidiocarp, di- to trimitic hyphal systems, smooth non-dextrinoid spores, and a hymenium usually without true hymenial cystidia. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 195 species. The genus was circumscribed by Elias Magnus Fries in 1836.
Trametes gibbosa, commonly known as the lumpy bracket, is a polypore mushroom that causes white rot. It is found on beech stumps and the dead wood of other hardwood species. Fruit bodies are 8–15 cm in diameter and semicircular in shape. The upper surface is usually gray or white, but may be greenish in older specimens due to algal growth. Elongated pores are located on the under-surface. The fruiting bodies are frequently attacked by boring beetle larvae.
Nemaxera is a genus of the fungus moth family, Tineidae. Therein, it belongs to the subfamily Nemapogoninae. The genus is considered monotypic, with the single species Nemaxera betulinella placed here.
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.
Picipes badius, commonly known as the black-footed polypore or black-leg, is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It causes a white rot of hardwoods and conifers. The species is found in temperate areas of Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. It has a dark brown or reddish-brown cap that reaches a diameter of 25 cm (9.8 in), and a stipe that is often completely black or brown at the top and black at the base.
