Entoloma hochstetteri

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Entoloma hochstetteri
Entoloma hochstetteri (Reichardt) G. Stev 99860.jpg
Entoloma hochstetteri 118776419.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Entolomataceae
Genus: Entoloma
Species:
E. hochstetteri
Binomial name
Entoloma hochstetteri
Entoloma hochstetteri
Information icon.svg
Gills icon.png Gills on hymenium
Convex cap icon.svg Cap is convex
Adnate gills icon2.svg Hymenium is adnate
Bare stipe icon.svg Stipe is bare
Transparent spore print icon.svg
Spore print is pink
Saprotrophic fungus.svgEcology is saprotrophic
Mycomorphbox Question.pngEdibility is unknown

Entoloma hochstetteri, also known as the blue pinkgill, sky-blue mushroom or similar names, is a species of mushroom that is native to New Zealand. The small mushroom is a distinctive all-blue colour, while the gills have a slight reddish tint from the spores. The blue colouring of the fruit body is due to azulene pigments. [1] Whether Entoloma hochstetteri is poisonous or not is unknown.

Contents

This species was one of six native fungi featured in a set of fungal stamps issued in New Zealand in 2002. [2] [3] It is also featured on the New Zealand fifty-dollar note. [4] With E. hochstetteri's inclusion, this makes it the only banknote in the world which features a mushroom on it. [5] In a 2018 poll, E. hochstetteri was ranked first by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research for its pick as New Zealand's national fungus. [6]

Naming

The Māori name for the mushroom is werewere-kōkako, because its colour is similar to the blue wattle of the kōkako bird. [7]

Taxonomy

Entoloma hochstetteri near Coromandel, New Zealand Entoloma Hochstetteri.jpg
Entoloma hochstetteri near Coromandel, New Zealand

The species was first described as Cortinarius hochstetteri in 1866 by the Austrian mycologist Erwin Reichardt, before being given its current binomial in 1962 by Greta Stevenson. It is named after the German-Austrian naturalist Ferdinand von Hochstetter. [8]

In 1976 Egon Horak combined Entoloma hochstetteri and Entoloma aeruginosum from Japan with Entoloma virescens , first described from the Bonin Islands in Japan. [9] [10] In 1989 S. Dhancholia recorded E. hochstetteri in India. [11] In 1990 Tsuguo Hongo from Japan examined E. hochstetteri and E. aeruginosum and concluded that they were different taxa, because of difference in the size of the spores and the shape of the pseudocystidia. [10] [12] In 2008 Horak recognized E. hochstetteri as a different species from E. virescens, [13] while noting that "it is open to speculation" whether taxa such as E. virescens are the same species. [8]

A similar mushroom is found in Australia and mycologists differ as to whether it is E. hochstetteri, E. virescens or a separate species. [14]

Description

Entoloma hochstetteri has a small delicate epigeous (above-ground) fruit body (basidiocarp). The cap may be up to 4 cm (1.4 in) in diameter and conical in shape. The cap colour is indigo-blue with a green tint, and is fibrillose. The cap margin is striate and rolled inwards. The gill attachment is adnexed or emarginate, gills are thin and 3–5 mm wide, essentially the same colour as the cap, sometimes with a yellow tint. The cylindrical stipe (stalk) is up to 5 cm (2 in) long by 0.5 cm thick, fibrillose and stuffed. The spore print is reddish-pink. The spores are 9.9–13.2 by 11.8–13.2 μm, tetrahedric in shape, hyaline, smooth and thin-walled. The basidia are 35.2–44.2 by 8.8–13.2 μm, club-shaped, hyaline, and with two or four sterigmata. [11]

Mythology

The distinctive Entoloma hochstetteri is part of Maori folklore Blue mushroom.jpg
The distinctive Entoloma hochstetteri is part of Māori folklore

The Ngāi Tūhoe describe that the kōkako bird (Callaeas wilsoni) got its blue wattles from it rubbing its cheek against the mushroom, thus giving the mushroom the name werewere-kōkako. [5]

Habitat and distribution

Entoloma hochstetteri is common in forests throughout New Zealand, [15] where it grows on soil among litter in broadleaf/podocarp forest. [8] It fruits in January to July. [8]

It was also reported from India in 1989 [11] and from Australia, though it is unclear whether these are the same species or whether E. hochstetteri is endemic to New Zealand. [8]

Attempts of lab cultivation of Entoloma hochstetteri have been made, to no avail. [16]

Toxicity

Although many members of the genus Entoloma are poisonous, the toxicity of this species is unknown. It is being investigated to see if its gene cluster that is responsible for blue colouring might be used to manufacture a natural blue food dye. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Entoloma sinuatum</i> Species of poisonous fungus in the family Entolomataceae found across Europe and North America

Entoloma sinuatum is a poisonous mushroom found across Europe and North America. Some guidebooks refer to it by its older scientific names of Entoloma lividum or Rhodophyllus sinuatus. The largest mushroom of the genus of pink-spored fungi known as Entoloma, it is also the type species. Appearing in late summer and autumn, fruit bodies are found in deciduous woodlands on clay or chalky soils, or nearby parklands, sometimes in the form of fairy rings. Solid in shape, they resemble members of the genus Tricholoma. The ivory to light grey-brown cap is up to 20 cm (7.9 in) across with a margin that is rolled inward. The sinuate gills are pale and often yellowish, becoming pink as the spores develop. The thick whitish stem has no ring.

<i>Entoloma</i> Genus of fungi

Entoloma is a genus of fungi in the order Agaricales. Called pinkgills in English, basidiocarps are typically agaricoid, though a minority are gasteroid. All have salmon-pink basidiospores which colour the gills at maturity and are angular (polyhedral) under a microscope. The genus is large, with almost 2000 species worldwide. Most species are saprotrophic, but some are ectomycorrhizal, and a few are parasitic on other fungi. The type, Entoloma sinuatum, is one of several Entoloma species that are poisonous, typically causing mild to severe gastrointestinal illness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entolomataceae</span> Family of fungi

The Entolomataceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. The family contains eight genera and 2250 species, the majority of which are in Entoloma. Basidiocarps are typically agaricoid, but a minority are cyphelloid. secotioid, or gasteroid. All produce pink basidiospores that are variously angular (polyhedral), ridged, or nodulose. Species are mostly saprotrophic, though a few are parasitic on other fungi. The family occurs worldwide.

<i>Rhodocybe</i> Genus of fungi

Rhodocybe is a genus of fungi in the family Entolomataceae. Basidiocarps are agaricoid producing pink basidiospores that are unevenly roughened or pustular under the microscope. Species are saprotrophic and mostly grow on the ground, occasionally on wood. The genus is distributed worldwide.

<i>Psilocybe weraroa</i> Species of fungus

Psilocybe weraroa, formerly Weraroa novae-zelandiae, is a secotioid fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it grows in native forests from rotting wood and woody debris. Despite its pouch-like form this species is closely related to Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe subaeruginosa. As a bluing member of the genus Psilocybe it contains the psychoactive compounds psilocin and psilocybin. It has been cultivated commercially by Rua Bioscience with a view to researching potential medical applications, bringing together its traditional uses in Rongoā Māori with the recent interest in Western medicine into the medical applications of psilocin and psilocybin.

<i>Cortinarius archeri</i> Species of fungus

Cortinarius archeri is a species of mushroom in the genus Cortinarius native to Australia. The distinctive mushrooms have bright purple caps that glisten with slime, and appear in autumn in eucalypt forests.

<i>Entoloma rodwayi</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma rodwayi, known as the green stem pinkgill, is a species of fungus in the Entolomataceae family of mushrooms. A yellowish green mushroom with pink gills and spores, it is found in wet forests of Tasmania.

<i>Entoloma austroprunicolor</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma austroprunicolor is a species of agaric fungus in the family Entolomataceae. Described as new to science in 2007, it is found in Tasmania, where it fruits on the ground of wet sclerophyll forests in late spring to early winter. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) have reddish-purple caps measuring up to 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter supported by whitish stipes measuring 3–7.5 cm (1.2–3.0 in) long by 0.2–0.6 cm (0.1–0.2 in) thick. On the cap underside, the crowded gills are initially white before turning pink as the spores mature.

<i>Amanita australis</i> Species of fungus

Amanita australis is a species of fungus in the family Amanitaceae. It produces small- to medium-sized fruit bodies, with brown caps up to 9 centimetres in diameter covered with pyramidal warts. The gills on the underside of the cap are white, closely crowded together, and free from attachment to the stem. The stem, up to 9 cm long, has a ring and a bulbous base. The mushroom may be confused with another endemic New Zealand species, A. nothofagi, but can be distinguished by differences in microscopic characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greta Stevenson</span> New Zealand mycologist (1911–1990)

Greta Barbara Stevenson was a New Zealand botanist and mycologist. She described many new species of Agaricales.

<i>Entoloma haastii</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma haastii is a mushroom in the Entolomataceae family. Described as new to science in 1964, it is known only from New Zealand, where it grows on the ground in leaf litter, usually near Nothofagus species.

<i>Entoloma bloxamii</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma bloxamii, commonly known as the midnight blue entoloma, or big blue pinkgill, is a species of agaric in the family Entolomataceae. The species has a European distribution, occurring mainly in agriculturally unimproved grassland. Entoloma bloxamii has been reported from North America, but at least some of these reports represent a distinct species, Entoloma medianox. Threats to its habitat have resulted in the Big Blue Pinkgill being assessed as globally "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

<i>Entoloma murrayi</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma murrayi, commonly known as the yellow unicorn Entoloma or the unicorn pinkgill, is a species of fungus in the Entolomataceae family. First described from New England (USA) in 1859, the species is found in eastern North America, Central and South America, and southeast Asia, where it grows on the ground in wet coniferous and deciduous forests. The fungus produces yellow mushrooms that have a characteristic sharp umbo on the top of a conical cap. The mushroom is inedible and may be poisonous. Other similar species can be distinguished from E. murrayi by differences in color, morphology, or microscopic characteristics.

<i>Entoloma mathinnae</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma mathinnae is a species of agaric fungus in the family Entolomataceae. Known only from Tasmania, Australia, it was described as new to science in 2009. Mushrooms have light yellow-brown, convex caps up to 8 cm (3.1 in) wide atop stems measuring 5–8.5 cm (2.0–3.3 in) long.

<i>Entoloma quadratum</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma quadratum is a species of agaric fungus in the family Entolomataceae. The fungus was originally described as Agaricus quadratus by Miles Joseph Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis in 1859; Egon Horak transferred it to Entoloma in 1976. It is found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Egon Horak is an Austrian mycologist who has described more than 1000 species of fungi, including many from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly New Zealand and South America. He was an executive editor of the scientific journal Sydowia from 1975 to 1989, and a member of the editorial board afterwards.

<i>Cortinarius cucumeris</i> Species of fungus

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Grace Marie Taylor née Bulmer was a New Zealand mycologist and botanist as well as a scientific illustrator. She described several new species of fungi and published and illustrated books on New Zealand fungi and plants.

<i>Entoloma prunuloides</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma prunuloides is a species of agaric in the family Entolomataceae. It has been given the recommended English name of Mealy Pinkgill, based on its distinctive smell. The species has a European distribution, occurring mainly in agriculturally unimproved grassland. Threats to its habitat have resulted in the Mealy Pinkgill being assessed as globally "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

<i>Entoloma griseocyaneum</i> Species of fungus

Entoloma griseocyaneum is a species of agaric in the family Entolomataceae. It has been given the recommended English name of Felted Pinkgill. The species has a European distribution, occurring mainly in agriculturally unimproved grassland. Threats to its habitat have resulted in the Felted Pinkgill being assessed as globally "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

References

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