''Clavariadelphus truncatus'' is a species of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

. The

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

of the species is truncated club or club coral. It is a member of the

basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

fungi family

Gomphaceae The Gomphaceae are a diverse family of fungi belonging in what is classically known as the Phallales or cladistically as the ''gomphoid-phalloid clade''. The family has 13 genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biologi ...

Description

The species has a yellow-orange fruiting body in the shape of a club with a flat cap. The flesh is white, thin, and hollow at the top. The vertical side of the fruiting body normally has folds and wrinkles, but can be smooth. The spores are smooth and their spore print is pale yellow to

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

. The mushroom has a pleasant odor and a sweet taste.

Similar species

Although one field guide says that it is unlikely that anyone would confuse the mushroom with another species, the yellow chanterelle is distantly related to the mushroom and looks nearly the same, except for the ridges and cross-veined

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...

. ''

Clavariadelphus pistillaris ''Clavariadelphus pistillaris'' is a rare species of mushroom of the family Gomphaceae native to Europe and North America. It grows during summer and autumn almost exclusively in beech forest on calcareous soil on litter and woodchips. The mat a ...

'' is also similar, but the top is not flat.

Habitat

The mushroom's

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is in

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

from

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

. The mushroom is a common species. The species is found at a high elevation and is widely distributed. ''C. truncatus'' can bioaccumulate significant amounts of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, and radioactive caesium-137.

Edibility

The mushroom is

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

and has a sweet taste. Old mushrooms may be spongy and soft inside. The species is high in

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

and can be used for cooking. One field guide says that the mushroom is one of the best to eat and has a sweet flavor that is especially appealing to some people. David Arora writes that the mushroom can be sauteed and served for dessert.

Medicinal uses

The mushroom contains

clavaric acid Clavaric acid is a triterpenoid produced by the mushroom '' Hypholoma sublateritium''. Clavaric acid was discovered by Merck Research Laboratories in a random screening of natural extracts. Clavaric acid is a reversible farnesyltransferase inhibi ...

, which has been shown to reduce the rate of

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

development when given to mice. Clavaric acid interferes with

farnesyltransferase Farnesyltransferase () is one of the three enzymes in the prenyltransferase group. Farnesyltransferase (FTase) adds a 15-carbon isoprenoid called a farnesyl group to proteins bearing a CaaX motif: a four-amino acid sequence at the carboxyl ter ...

, an enzyme implicated in

tumorigenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abno ...

, which suggests that clavaric acid may have therapeutic value in the treatment of certain cancers. It has been reported that mushrooms have significant antioxidant activity.

References

External links

Healing-mushrooms.net
Image & description of bioactive properties {{Taxonbar, from=Q320428 Edible fungi Medicinal fungi Fungi of North America Taxa named by Lucien Quélet