Common fire sponge
| Common fire sponge | ||||||||||||
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Perennial fruiting bodies of the common fire sponge ( Phellinus igniarius ) on deadwood of the pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phellinus igniarius | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) Quél. |
The common fire sponge ( Phellinus igniarius , syn. Phellinus trivialis ) is a fungus from the family of the bristle disk relatives (Hymenochaetaceae). Like other representatives of the genus Phellinus, it lives as a saprobiont , which breaks down the lignin and cellulose of the host wood and thus causes white rot .
The common fire sponge forms perennial fruiting bodies all year round, which protrude as woody-hard, hoof-shaped or disc-shaped protrusions from the bark of the infested tree. Their top is covered by a dark, often cracked crust, a stalk is only rudimentary.
features
Macroscopic features
The fruiting body of the common fire sponge grows from the bark of the infested trees. It is disc-like, hoof-like or tuber-like in shape and has only a rudimentary, often no, stalk. In young mushrooms, the surface of the hat is velvety and brown at first, but becomes increasingly hard, dark and cracked with age, until the hat is finally covered with a hard, bark-like crust and is almost black in color. The hat measures, depending on its shape, about 5–20 cm in diameter, but in rare cases it can also be 40 cm wide. The thickness of the hat also varies from fruiting body to fruiting body, as a rule it is 2–12 cm, in exceptional cases 20 cm. The common fire sponge has small, grayish-brown pores, the density of which is 4–6 pieces per mm. Its tubes have a length of about 2–7 mm. Each year the fungus forms a new layer of tubes that superimpose old layers; in the latter there are often mycelial threads that clog the tubes and appear as brown spots in cross-section. The pulp becomes harder with age and when it is dry, and when it is damp it softens. The odor of the fruit body is pronounced and mushroom-like, the taste of the meat is bitter, on contact with potassium hydroxide the hat fabric turns black. The spores of the fire sponge form a whitish print .
Microscopic features
The round or nearly round fungal spores measure 5.5–7 × 4.5–6 µm and are not amyloid . Four of them sit on the basidia , on which dark brown, thorn-shaped setae can be observed, measuring 12–20 × 5–9 µm. There are no cystids .
Damage
Like other fungi of the genus, the common fire sponge causes white rot on the affected wood by breaking down the lignin it contains . The affected areas lose their color, become lighter and more fibrous because initially only the cellulose remains. This is finally dissolved in the final stage of the infestation, so that only a spongy mass remains of the wood.
ecology
The common fire sponge mainly attacks poplars , willows and apple trees . Natural locations of the species are brook bank corridors, nutrient-rich and base-rich alluvial forests, alder forests, edges of moors and edges of red beech and hornbeam oak forests and clear areas in hardwood forests, it also occurs in degraded montane spruce forests. In the human settlement area, the common fire sponge inhabits fruit tree plantations, roadsides and roadsides, parks, gardens and cemeteries. The common fire sponge is a slightly aggressive parasite that keeps the infected tree alive for many years to come. The fruiting bodies can live for several years. The fungus plays an important role for some woodpecker species such as the yellow-bellied sap-lick ( Sphyrapicus varius ), which take advantage of the wounding of the wood when building their nesting holes. Spore formation takes place all year round, it is only interrupted in winter at temperatures below freezing point.
distribution
The common fire sponge is found in India and Sri Lanka as well as in South America, but its main range is in the Holarctic , where it occurs from the Mediterranean to the boreal zones. Its distribution area includes Asia Minor, the Altai, Siberia, Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, China and Japan, the USA, Canada, North Africa and Europe. In Europe, the species is distributed from the Iberian Peninsula to the North Cape and from England and the Hebrides to the Caucasus and Urals. It is absent from the Mediterranean islands, Greece, Albania, Ireland and Iceland. In Germany the species is dense to common everywhere.
confusion
Similar is the tinder fungus ( Fomes fomentarius ), with which the species is often confused. The tinder fungus often grows individually on beeches within forests, while the fruiting bodies of the common fire sponge, which grow on top of each other like roof tiles, can be found outside of forests on willows or poplars. In addition, the common fire sponge is very hard and firmly attached to the substrate, while the cap crust of the tinder sponge can be pressed in and the fruiting body can be removed from the wood more easily. In addition, the crust of the tinder sponge turns red with potassium hydroxide .
Other species of the genus Phellinus mainly differ in terms of their substrates .
Systematics
External system
Within the genus Phellinus , the common fire sponge is most closely related to the console birch fire sponge ( Ph. Lundelli ) and the poplar fire sponge ( Ph. Populicola ).
| Fire sponges ( Phellinus ) |
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Internal system
The following forms and varieties are recognized for the common fire sponge :
| variety | Initial description | comment |
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| P. i. f. camschadalicus | Parmasto (1963) | |
| P. i. f. crataegi | JW Baxter | |
| P. i. f. resupinatus | Bourdot & Galzin (1933) | |
| P. i. f. salicis | Bondartsev (1912) | |
| P. i. var. cinereus | Niemelae (1975) | |
| P. i. f. subresupinatus | ( S. Lundell ) H. Jahn |
meaning
The common fire sponge is inedible, but contains active ingredients that are used medicinally in numerous cultures. With the Inupiat and Yupik in Alaska , the dry fruit bodies are burned and the ashes are chewed together with tobacco , which increases the absorption of nicotine and leads to states of intoxication. Consumption of this mushroom drug leads to health damage caused by nicotine poisoning. The Alaska government is therefore running health campaigns against this traditional type of tobacco consumption.
In the past, this species was also made into fire sponge and used as tinder .
literature
- David Arora: Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Ten Speed Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89815-169-4 , p. 581.
- Robert A. Blanchette et al .: The current use of Phellinus igniarius by the Eskimos of Western Alaska. In: Mycologist Vol. 16 (4) November 2002. pp. 142-145.
- Heinz Butin , D. Lonsdale: Tree diseases and disorders: causes, biology, and control in forest and amenity trees. Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-854932-6 , p. 165.
- Richard N. Conner: Woodpecker Dependence on Trees Infected by Fungal Heart Rots. In: The Wilson Bulletin 88 (4), December 1976, pp. 575-581.
- Michael Fischer: Phellinus igniarius and its closest relatives in Europe. In: Mycological Research 99 (6), June 1995. pp. 735-744.
- Hermann Jahn : The resupinate Phellinus species in Central Europe with references to the resupinate Inonotus species and Poria expansa [= Polyporus megaporus Pers.]. In: Westfälische Pilzbriefe Volume 6, 1976–81. Pp. 109-150. Online as PDF
- Michael Jordan: The encyclopedia of fungi of Britain and Europe. frances lincoln ltd, 2004. ISBN 0-7112-2378-5 , p. 114.
- German Josef Krieglsteiner (Ed.): The large mushrooms of Baden-Württemberg . Volume 1: General Part. Stand mushrooms: jelly, bark, prick and pore mushrooms. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3528-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David Arora: Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Ten Speed Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89815-169-4 , p. 581.
- ↑ a b Michael Jordan: The encyclopedia of fungi of Britain and Europe. frances lincoln ltd, 2004. ISBN 0-7112-2378-5 , p. 114.
- ^ A b Heinz Butin, D. Lonsdale: Tree diseases and disorders: causes, biology, and control in forest and amenity trees. Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19-854932-6 , p. 165.
- ^ Richard N. Conner: Woodpecker Dependence on Trees Infected by Fungal Heart Rots. In: The Wilson Bulletin 88 (4), December 1976, pp. 575-581.
- ↑ Ewald Gerhardt: FSVO manual mushrooms. BLV, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8354-0053-3 , p. 462
- ↑ Jeong Won Jin et al .: Phylogeny of Phellinus and related genera inferred from combined data of ITS and mitochondrial SSU rDNA sequences. In: Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 15 (5), 2002. pp. 1028-1038.
- ^ Index Fungorum. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
- ^ Robert A. Blanchette et al .: The current use of Phellinus igniarius by the Eskimos of Western Alaska. In: Mycologist Vol. 16 (4) November 2002. pp. 142-145.