Phallus indusiatus
Phallus indusiatus, commonly called the bamboo fungus, bamboo pith, long net stinkhorn, crinoline stinkhorn or veiled lady, is afungus in the family Phallaceae, or stinkhorns. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical areas, and is found in southern Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia, where it grows in woodlands and gardens in rich soil and well-rotted woody material.
The fruit body of the fungus is characterised by a conical to bell-shaped cap on a stalk and a delicate lacy "skirt", or indusium, that hangs from beneath the cap and reaches nearly to the ground.
First described scientifically in 1798 by French botanistÉtienne Pierre Ventenat, the species has often been referred to a separate genus Dictyophora along with other Phallus species featuring an indusium.
P. indusiatus can be distinguished from other similar species by differences in distribution, size, color, and indusium length.
Edible
In eastern Asia, P. indusiatus is considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac.Previously only collected in the wild, where it is not abundant, it was difficult to procure. The mushroom's scarcity meant that it was usually reserved for special occasions.
In the time of China's Qing Dynasty, the species was collected in Yunnan Province and sent to the Imperial Palaces to satisfy the appetite of Empress Dowager Cixi, who particularly enjoyed meals containing edible fungi.
Another notable use was a state banquet held for American diplomat Henry Kissinger on his visit to China to reestablish diplomatic relations in the early 1970s.One source writes of the mushroom: "It has a fine and tender texture, fragrance and is attractive, beautiful in shape, fresh and crispy in taste."The dried fungus, commonly sold in Asian markets, is prepared by rehydrating and soaking or simmering in water until tender.
Sometimes used in stir-frys, it is traditionally used as a component of rich chicken soups. The rehydrated mushroom can also be stuffed and cooked.
P. multicolor is smaller and more brightly coloured
P. duplicatus has a shorter indusium
Similar species
Phallus multicolor is similar in overall appearance, but it has a more brightly coloured cap, stem and indusium, and it is usually smaller. It is found in Australia, Guam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Zaire, and Tobago as well as Hawaii.
The cap of the Indo-Pacific species P. merulinus appears smooth when covered with gleba, and is pale and wrinkled once the gleba has worn off. In contrast, the cap surface of P. indusiatus tends to have conspicuous reticulations that remain clearly visible under the gleba. Also, the indusium of P. merulinus is more delicate and shorter than that of P. indusiatus, and is thus less likely to collapse under its own weight.
Common in eastern North America and Japan, and widely recorded in Europe, the species P. duplicatus has a smaller indusium that hangs 3–6 cm (1.2–2.4 in) from the bottom of the cap, and sometimes collapses against the stalk.
Phallus indusiatus
Known as bamboo fungus, bamboo pith, long net stinkhorn, crinoline stinkhorn or veiled lady. previously been known as Dictyophora indusiata.
Cookeina tricholoma
Domain : Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi Phylum : Ascomycota
Class: Pezizomycetes
Order: Pezizales
Family: Sarcoscyphaceae
Genus: Cookeina
Species: Cookeina tricholoma
(Mont.) Kuntze (1891)
General Description:
- On dead and rotten wood in the wet tropics.
- Bright pink, stalked cup bristles with long pale hairs.
- Grow on the outside of the cup, and create a very distinctive fringe around the margin.
- Stem is pale pink and hairy. Hairs often washed away by rain.
- Scattered or in clusters; rare.
- Saprotrophic
Diagnostic features:
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Fruit body:
Height to 50 mm; a cup supported on a stem.
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Stem :
Central; length to 45 mm, diameter to 3 mm; tapering downwards, rarely flattened; pale pink, orange or white; bristly hairs, especially towards upper half.
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Cup:
Diameter to 20 mm; deep cup-shaped. Inner surface pink-orange to orange; smooth. Outer surface very pale pink-orange to orange; ridged to smooth, finely roughened, conspicuous pale bristly hairs, especially as a fringe near margin; base obliquely seated on stem.
Schizophyllum commune
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Hymenomycetes
Order: Schizophyllales
Family: Schizophyllaceae
Genus: Schizophyllum
Species: Schizophyllum commune
Common Name: Split-Gill
Scientific Name: Schizophyllum commune
Cap:
The cap is 1.0cm - 4.5cm wide and usually a shell or fan shape with a gray to whitish surface. Dry and covered by thin fine hairs, irregular lobe fan, margin rolled back onto gills.
Gills:
Gill is gray to white, double, separating in wet weather and closing in dry. Gill like folds are split lengthwise and many times serrated or torn. Gills produce basidiospores, and the reason they appear to be split is because they often dry out and rehydrate many times throughout the growing season. This causes opening and closing of the split gills. The fruiting bodies that are produce each year because it is able to dry and rehydrate.
Flesh: Flesh is thin and leathery.
Stalk: Stalk is usually absent or very short.
Spore: Spores are 5-7.5 × 2-3 micrometers. Spore print is white.
Distribution:
Schizophyllum commune may be one of the most widespread fungi in existence. Schizophyllum commune has been found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. Basically it is everywhere where there is hardwood to grow on.
Habitat:
Schizophyllum commune grows on hardwood using enzymes to degrade lignin and causes “white rot.” It is found in most of any woody areas. It can be found year round due to its ability to dry out, rehydrate in better conditions, and then continue to sporulate. This fungus can be parasitic on small diameter trees that are under stress from other factors, such as drought.
Uses:
The sexual cycle of Schizophyllum commune has been used to better understand sex in fungi. This fungus like many others does not have differentiated sex organs but just exchanges nuclei wherever they touch. It has been shown that this fungus has over 28,000 different sexes and thus encourages genetic diversity in mating. There are about a dozen reported cases of human infections in the sinus passages of young children whose immune systems were not fully developed. Schizophyllum commune is cultivated and eaten in Malaysia, where it is known as “cendawan kukur” or “kulat sisir”
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