''Cyclocybe parasitica'', also known as tawaka in

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

or poplar mushroom, is a species of gilled mushroom in the genus ''

Cyclocybe ''Cyclocybe'' is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Strophariaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution. Species The following species are recognised in the genus ''Cyclocybe'': * ''Cyclocybe aegerita ''Cyclocybe aegerita'', also ...

'' found mostly in New Zealand and Australia. It grows on native and introduced trees where it can cause

heart rot 300px, The bracket fungus '' Fistulina hepatica'' is one of many that cause heart rot. In trees, heart rot is a fungal disease that causes the decay of wood at the center of the trunk and branches. Fungi enter the tree through wounds in the bark ...

, and does not seem to be associated with

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

Description

The

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

is centrally attached, buff coloured, and darker at center.

Stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

is pale with white

flesh Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as mu ...

. Veil is pressing against the gills and turns into a prominent

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

often striated with dark brown

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

upon the stem expansion.

Spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

are cylindrical and thick walled with a prominent

germ pore A germ pore is a small pore in the outer wall of a fungal spore through which the germ tube exits upon germination. It can be apical or eccentric in its location, and, on light microscopy, may be visualized as a lighter coloured area on the cell ...

Ecology

The species grows parasitically and saprotrophically in

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

trees such as ''

Beilschmiedia tawa ''Beilschmiedia tawa'', the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the South Island, but wi ...

'',

Hoheria ''Hoheria'' is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. All are endemic to New Zealand. The genus name is a latinization of the Māori language name, ''houhere''. That name, as well as lacebark and ribbonwood, are ofte ...

Plagianthus ''Plagianthus'' is a genus of flowering plants confined to New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. The familial placement of the genus was controversial for many years, but modern genetic studies show it definitely belongs in the Malvaceae subfami ...

but can also be found on ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'', birches or

poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...

. It is native and probably indigenous to New Zealand. Fruiting bodies usually occur in late summer and autumn, sometimes single but usually in clusters.

Uses

Tawaka is an edible mushroom with meaty savoury taste. It can be collected in the wild or cultivated on logs that are inoculated four to eight weeks after cutting and defoliating. According to a study from Lincoln University in 1990, tawaka contains approximately 20% protein in dry mass, which is roughly half of what can be found in the common

button mushroom ''Agaricus bisporus'' is an edible basidiomycete mushroom native to grasslands in Eurasia and North America. It has two color states while immature – white and brown – both of which have various names, with additional names for the mature ...

, while the

essential amino acid An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life form ...

composition is similar. On the other hand, available

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or ma ...

content is almost three times higher. Although most commonly known for its culinary value, tawaka was historically used by

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

as a

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

References

External links

Agrocybe parasitica
on the ''T.E.R.R.A.I.N'' site {{taxonbar, from=Q62852738 Strophariaceae Fungi of Australia Fungi of New Zealand Fungi described in 1982 Edible fungi