Auriscalpium vulgare
Auriscalpium vulgare | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Russulales |
Family: | Auriscalpiaceae |
Genus: | Auriscalpium |
Species: | A. vulgare
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Binomial name | |
Auriscalpium vulgare Gray (1821)
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Synonyms[1] | |
List
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Auriscalpium vulgare saprotrophic | |
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Edibility is inedible |
Auriscalpium vulgare, commonly known as the pinecone mushroom, the cone tooth, or the ear-pick fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae of the order Russulales. It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus, who included it as a member of the tooth fungi genus Hydnum, but British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray recognized its uniqueness and in 1821 transferred it to the genus Auriscalpium that he created to contain it. The fungus is widely distributed in Europe, Central America, North America, and temperate Asia. Although common, its small size and nondescript colors lead it to be easily overlooked in the pine woods where it grows. A. vulgare is not generally considered edible because of its tough texture, but some historical literature says it used to be consumed in France and Italy.
The fruit bodies (mushrooms) grow on conifer litter or on conifer cones that may be partially or completely buried in soil. The dark brown cap of the small, spoon-shaped mushroom is covered with fine brown hairs, and reaches a diameter of up to 2 cm (3⁄4 in). On the underside of the cap are a crowded array of tiny tooth-shaped protrusions ("teeth") up to 3 mm long; they are initially whitish to purplish-pink before turning brown in age. The dark brown and hairy stem, up to 55 mm (2+1⁄8 in) long and 2 mm thick, attaches to one edge of the cap. The mushroom produces a white spore print out of roughly spherical spores.
High levels of humidity are essential for optimum fruit body development, and growth is inhibited by either too much or too little light. Fruit bodies change their
History, taxonomy and phylogeny
The species was first described in the scientific literature by Carl Linnaeus under the name Hydnum auriscalpium in his 1753 Species Plantarum. Linnaeus placed three other tooth fungi in the genus Hydnum: H. imbricatum, H. repandum, and H. tomentosum.[2] In 1821, Samuel Frederick Gray considered H. auriscalpium to be sufficiently distinct from the other Hydnum species to warrant the creation of a new genus, Auriscalpium, to contain it. In the process, its name was changed to Auriscalpium vulgare.[3]
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Auriscalpium vulgare is commonly known as the "pinecone mushroom",[12] the "cone tooth",[13] "pine cone tooth", or the "ear-pick fungus".[14] Gray called it the "common earpick-stool";[3] it was also referred to as the "fir-cone Hydnum", when it was still considered to be a member of that genus.[15] The specific epithet vulgare means "common".[14] The generic name Auriscalpium is Latin for "ear pick" and refers to a small, scoop-shaped instrument used to remove foreign matter from the ear.[16]
Habitat and distribution
Auriscalpium vulgare is a
The fungus is widely distributed in Europe, Central and North America,
Description
The fruit body of A. vulgare is fibrous when fresh and becomes stiff when dry. It is a small species rarely exceeding 5.5 cm (2+1⁄4 in) in height, with a cap usually smaller than an adult's fingernails: 0.5 to 2 cm (1⁄4 to 3⁄4 in)—although it has been known to reach up to 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in).[26] It is semicircular or kidney-shaped, flat on the lower surface and rounded on the top.[26] The surface is at first much like the stem: covered with bristles and dark chestnut brown. It becomes smooth with maturity and can darken to the point of being almost black. The cap margin is usually buff to light brown–roughly the same color as the spines and lighter in color than the center.[18] It becomes rolled inward (revolute) and often wavy in maturity.[27] The spines on the underside of the cap are a few millimeters long and cylindrical down to their sharp tips. White to light brown when young, they later become covered with a white spore mass and then turn an ashy gray.[13][27] Occasionally, fruit bodies are produced that lack a cap entirely.[28]
Auriscalpium vulgare usually has a single stem, but occasionally several stems arise from a thick common base. It attaches to the side of the cap and is cylindrical or slightly flattened with a bulbous base, 2–8 cm tall and 1–3 wide.[29] Its surface is covered with hairy fibers, and its mature color is a dark chestnut brown.[29]
"... the mushroom look(s) like a little periscope sent up from a pine-cone submarine."
Michael Kuo[30]
The cap flesh is composed of two distinct layers: a thin, compact, black-brown and hairy upper layer, and a thick, soft, white to light brown lower layer that is made of thin, thread-like filaments arranged in a roughly parallel fashion.[13] The stem is similarly divided, with a thin, dark and hairy cortical layer covered by hairs, which encircles inner ochre-colored flesh.[27] A drop of potassium hydroxide applied to the surface of the mushroom will cause it to instantly stain black.[30]
The mushroom, which has no distinct taste or odor, is generally considered inedible because of its toughness and diminutive size.[31] An 1887 textbook noted, however, that it was "commonly eaten in France and Italy".[32]
Microscopic characteristics
The hyphae of
Fruit body development
Fruit body
When grown in favorable conditions of high water availability and humidity, the fruit body can proliferate by growing additional (secondary) fruit bodies on all parts of its upper and lower surfaces. These secondary growths typically number between four and seven; some may be aborted as the nutrients from the pine cone substrate are depleted, resulting in stems lacking caps. In one instance, a complete secondary proliferation was noted (i.e., growing from a primary proliferation) that developed completely so as to produce viable spores.
When a stem is developing, the fungus is negatively
Similar species
Similar species include Strobilurius trullisatus, which also fruits on Douglas-fir cones.[29] Baeospora myosura fruits on spruce cones, and Mycena purpureofusca on pine cones.[29]
Growth in culture
Auriscalpium vulgare can be grown in
The mature mycelium consists of thin-walled, densely packed hyphae that are 1.5–3.2 μm in diameter. They are often gnarled or somewhat spiral (subhelicoid), and frequently branched at an angle of about 45°, with a clamp at the base of the branch. They contain amorphous
Fruiting begins about six weeks after the initial inoculation on the agar plate, but only when portions of fruit bodies (spines or stem sections) are used as the inoculum to initiate growth; the use of mycelium as the inoculum precludes subsequent fruiting. Mature fruit bodies grow very close to the initial site of inoculation—within 3 mm—and take about 60 days to mature after they first start to form.[34]
References
- ^ a b "Auriscalpium vulgare Gray 1821". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
- ^ Linnaeus C. (1753). Species Plantarum (in Latin). Vol. 2. Stockholm, Sweden: Impensis Laurentii Salvii. p. 1178.
- ^ a b Gray SF. (1821). A Natural Arrangement of British Plants. Vol. 1. London, UK: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. p. 650.
- ^ PMID 17486972.
- ^ Kuntze O. (1898). Revisio Generum Plantarum (in German). Vol. 3. Leipzig, Germany: A. Felix. p. 446.
- ^ Banker HJ. (1906). "A contribution to a revision of the North American Hydnaceae". Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 12: 99–194 (see p. 178).
- ^ "Division II. Rules and Recommendations. Chapter III. Nomenclature of Taxa According to their Rank. Section 4. Names of Species". International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code) online. International Association for Plant Taxonomy. 2006. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
- ^ Velenovský J. (1922). České Houby. Vol. 4–5. Prague, Czech Republic: České Botanické Společnosti. p. 746.
- ISBN 978-0-85199-826-8.
- ISBN 978-0-88192-935-5.
- PMID 21149013.
- ISBN 0-395-91090-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-89301-097-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-8131-9039-8.
- ^ Cooke MC. (1871). Handbook of British Fungi: With Full Descriptions of all the Species, and Illustrations of the Genera. Vol. 1. London, UK: Macmillan. p. 296.
- ISBN 0-681-45384-2.
- ISBN 978-0-00-723224-6.
- ^ a b c Wood M, Stevens F. "Auriscalpium vulgare". California Fungi. MykoWeb. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ^ ISBN 0-919433-47-2.
- S2CID 24882278.
- .
- .
- ISSN 1300-008X.
- S2CID 31643216.
- ISBN 978-0-226-72117-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-89815-169-4.
- ^ ISSN 0453-3402.
- ^ .
- ^ OCLC 797915861.
- ^ a b Kuo M. (October 2009). "Auriscalpium vulgare". MushroomExpert.Com. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
- ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1.
- ^ Hay WD. (1887). An Elementary Text-book of British Fungi. London, UK: S. Sonnenschein, Lowrey. p. 118.
- PMID 18268899.
- ^ a b c Petersen RH. (1976). "Cultural characteristics of Auriscalpium and Gloiodon". Mycotaxon. 3 (3): 358–62.
External links
- Auriscalpium vulgare in Index Fungorum
- AFTOL Images and details of ultrastructural characters