''Astraeus odoratus'' ( th, เห็ดเผาะหนัง; ''Het pho nang'' เห็ดเผาะหนัง, ''Het pho'' เห็ดเผาะ, or ''Het nang'' เห็ดหนัง, the latter meaning "skin mushroom") is a species of false earthstar in the family Diplocystaceae. Described as a new species in 2004, it was originally found in the

Thai highlands The Thai highlands or Hills of northern Thailand is a mountainous natural region in the north of Thailand. Its mountain ranges are part of the system of hills extending through Laos, Burma, and China and linking to the Himalayas, of which they may ...

growing in sandy or

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

-rich soil in dry lowland

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...

forests. The species is found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Description

Fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

begin as brownish spheres or flattened spheres, partially submerged in the earth. The outer tissue layer, the

exoperidium The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of gasteroid fungi. Description Depending on the species, the peridium may vary from being paper-thin to thick and rubber ...

, splits open in a star-like fashion into 3–9 rays. The rays are

hygroscopic Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules become suspended among the substance ...

, spreading out when moist and curling inward when dry. The fully expanded fruit body measures up to in diameter. Fresh fruit bodies have an odor similar to moist soil. The spores are spherical, covered with spines, and measure 7.5–15.2

µm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

. The ornamentation of the spines on the surface is less dense than that of the similar ''

Astraeus hygrometricus ''Astraeus hygrometricus'', commonly known as the hygroscopic earthstar, the barometer earthstar, or the false earthstar, is a species of fungus in the family Diplocystaceae. Young specimens resemble a puffball when unopened. In maturity, the m ...

''.

Habitat and distribution

''Astraeus odoratus'' it is found in the dry lowland

forests of Thailand. The fungus fruits during the rainy season in May and June, in sandy or

-rich soil. It is associated with

Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

Chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

, ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' and

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

. In Thailand, it is commonly believed that forest fires stimulate the growth of mushrooms, including ''A. odoratus'', and fires are set intentionally to increase the yield of fruit bodies. Although the mushrooms may be easier to find and collect on the

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

-free ground of burnt forest, there is no evidence that burning increases yield, while it does decrease the biodiversity and yield of other edible mushroom-producing fungi.

Uses

Since they cannot be cultivated commercially, these mushrooms fetch a high price on the market. Young fruit bodies are collected from the wild and sold in the markets of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Thai people eat the blanched mushroom with ''

nam phrik ''Nam phrik'' ( th, น้ำพริก, ) is a type of Thai spicy chili sauce typical of Thai cuisine. Usual ingredients for ''nam phrik'' type sauces are fresh or dry chilies, garlic, shallots, lime juice and often some kind of fish or ...

'' (Thai chilli pastes) or ''

nam chim ''Nam chim'' or ''nam jim'' ( th, น้ำจิ้ม, ) is Thai for "dipping sauce". It can refer to a wide variety of dipping sauces in Lao cuisine and Thai cuisine, with many of them a combination of salty, sweet, spicy and sour. ''Nam chim ...

'' (dipping sauces), or cooked in curry and also only boiled in water with

fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, P ...

and

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed s ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astraeus Odoratus Boletales Fungi described in 2004 Fungi of Asia

Description

Habitat and distribution

Uses

See also

References

External links