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Phellodon alboniger

[ Basidiomycetes > Thelephorales > Bankeraceae > Phellodon ... ]

by Michael Kuo

Here is an odd, spreading, toothed mushroom found in eastern North America under eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and other conifers. It features a finely velvety, convex, gray cap with a whitish margin that often displays hints of blue. Its flesh, when sliced open, demonstrates a soft, whitish to grayish upper layer and a harder, black lower layer. Phellodon niger is very similar, and also features a lower layer of black flesh--but its cap usually becomes shallowly depressed (rather than convex), and its colors are darker.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers (especially eastern white pine and eastern hemlock); sometimes reported under hardwoods; growing alone or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America.

Cap: Single or fused with other caps; 3-9 cm wide; convex, becoming planoconvex or nearly flat; velvety; whitish to pale gray, becoming gray with a whitish to bluish margin.

Undersurface: Running down the stem; covered with crowded spines that are 2-4 mm long; whitish at first, becoming gray.

Stem: 4-6.5 cm long; 1-4 cm thick at apex; extremely variable in shape; smooth or finely velvety; colored like the cap.

Flesh: Two-layered, with a whitish to pale grayish, spongy upper layer and a hard, black to bluish black lower layer.

Odor and Taste: Odor mild or, more commonly, fragrant (reminiscent of curry or maple syrup), becoming stronger when dried; taste mild.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on flesh bluish to greenish, then brown to black.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 3.5-5 x 3-4.5 µ; globose to subglobose; echinulate with spines about .5 µ long. Clamp connections absent.

REFERENCES: (Peck, 1898) Banker, 1906. (Saccardo, 1899; Coker & Beers, 1951; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1981; Baird, 1986; Baird & Khan, 1986.) Herb. Kuo 09130410

 

Phellodon alboniger

Phellodon alboniger

Phellodon alboniger



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Kuo, M. (2009, April). Phellodon alboniger. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/phellodon_alboniger.html