Content
Tinder fungi (Polyporus) are a genus of annual and perennial basidiomycetes that differ in their morphological structure. Polypores live in close symbiosis with trees, parasitizing them or forming mycorrhiza with them. Polyporous fungus (Daedaleopsis confragosa) is a polypous fungus that lives on tree trunks and feeds on wood. It digests lingin, a hard component of plant cell walls, and forms what is called white rot.
Tinder fungus, bumpy, light brown; radial stripes, warts and a white border along the edge are visible on its surface
Description of the tuberous tinder fungus
Lumpy tinder fungus is a 1-2-3 year old mushroom. Fruit bodies are sessile, widely accrete, semicircular, slightly convex, prostrate. Their sizes range from 3-20 cm in length, 4-10 cm in width, 0.5-5 cm in thickness. Fruit bodies are formed by many thin filaments-hyphae, intertwined with each other. The surface of the tinder fungus tuberous is glabrous, dry, covered with small furrowed wrinkles that form concentric color zones. Various shades of gray, brown, yellow-brown, reddish-brown alternate with each other.
Fruit body in gray-cream tones
The edges of the cap are thin, bordered with white or gray. Reddish-brown warts may appear on the surface, most often they are grouped in the middle. Sometimes there are tinder fungi covered with short villi. The mushroom has no leg, the cap grows directly from the tree trunk. The hymenophore is tubular, at first white, gradually becoming beige and aging to gray. The pores are elongated-elongated, depending on age, they can be:
- round;
- form a pattern resembling a labyrinth;
- stretch out so much that they become gills-like.
A pale bloom forms on the surface of the pores of young fungi, and when pressed, pink-brown "bruises" appear.
Hymenophore of Dedaleopsis rough
Spores are white, cylindrical or ellipsoidal. The fabric of dedalea tuberous (trama) is cork, it can be whitish, pinkish, brownish. She has no characteristic smell, the taste is bitter.
Where and how it grows
Tinder fungus is found in temperate latitudes: in Great Britain, Ireland, North America, in most of continental Europe, in China, Japan, Iran, India. He settles on deciduous trees, prefers willow, birch, dogwood. It is less common on oaks, elms and very rarely on conifers. Dedaleopsis rough grows singly, in groups or in tiers. Most often it can be found in forests with abundant dead wood - on old stumps, dry and rotting trees.
Tinder fungus lives on old, dying wood
Is the mushroom edible or not
Tinder fungus is an inedible mushroom: the structure and taste of the pulp do not allow it to be eaten. At the same time, tuberous dealeopsis has useful properties that determine its use in medicine:
- antimicrobial;
- antioxidant;
- fungicidal;
- anti-cancer.
An aqueous infusion of tinder fungus tuberous is taken to lower blood pressure.
Doubles and their differences
There are several varieties of tinder fungus, similar to dealeopsis tuberous. All of them are inedible due to the tough consistency of trama and the bitter taste of the pulp, but they are used in pharmacology.
Daedaleopsis tricolor
An annual mushroom with sessile, semi-spread fruiting bodies, different from Daleopsis tuberous:
- smaller radius (up to 10 cm) and thickness (up to 3 mm);
- the ability to grow not only singly and in tiers, but also to collect in sockets;
- lamellar hymenophore, turning brown from touch;
- a large contrast of radial stripes, painted in rich red-brown tones.
The surface of the cap of dealeopsis tricolor is the same wrinkled, zone-colored, with a light rim along the edge.
Northern Daedaleopsis (Daedaleopsiss eptentrionas)
Small, with a radius of up to 7 cm, fruiting bodies are painted in dull yellowish-brown and brown colors. They differ from rough dealeopsis in the following features:
- tubercles and radial stripes on the cap are smaller;
- there is a small tubercle at the base of the cap;
- The hymenophore is at first tubular, but quickly becomes lamellar.
The fungus is found in mountain and northern taiga forests, prefers to grow on birches.
Lenzites birch (Lenzites betulina)
Annual fruiting bodies of Lenzites birch are sessile, prostrate. They have a grooved-zonal surface of white, grayish, cream colors, which darkens over time. They differ from dealeopsis tuberous:
- felt, bristly hairy surface;
- the structure of the hymenophore, consisting of large radially diverging plates;
- fruiting bodies often grow together at the edges, form rosettes;
- the cap is often covered with a green bloom.
This is one of the most common types of polyposis fungi in Russia.
Steccherinum Murashkinsky (Steccherinum murashkinskyi)
Fruit bodies are sessile or rudimentary, flexible, semicircular, 5-7 cm wide. The surface of the cap is uneven, bumpy, zonal, covered with hard hairs, and closer to the base - with nodules. The color of the fungus is whitish at first, later darkens to light brown, at the edge it can be reddish-brown. It differs from the tuberous tinder fungus:
- spiny hymenophore of pinkish or reddish-brown color;
- corky leathery texture and aniseed tram flavor;
- in very thin caps, the edge becomes gelatinous, gelatinous.
In Russia, the mushroom grows in the Central zone, southern Siberia and the Urals, in the Far East.
It belongs to the genus Phellinus. It grows on trees of the Rosaceae family - cherry, plum, cherry plum, cherry, apricot.
False plum tinder fungus
Conclusion
Polypore tuberous is a saprotroph that feeds on organic compounds formed as a result of the decomposition of wood. It rarely parasitizes healthy plants, preferring the sick and the oppressed. Dedalea lumpy destroys old, sick, rotting wood, participates in the process of its decomposition and transformation into soil. Dedaleopsis rough, like many tinder fungi, is an important link in the cycle of substances and energy in nature.
