''Gymnopilus allantopus'' is a
species of
mushroom in the family
Hymenogastraceae. It is commonly known as the golden wood fungus.
Description
In Australia, ''Gymnopilus allantopus'' is extremely common in the
Perth region, most often seen on fallen logs and branches of ''
Banksia'' species. ''G. allantopus'' produces fruit bodies from May to July, and also produces masses of fan-like white mycelium in the wood of the trees it infects, which can be seen at any time of the year.
The fungus is easily identified in the field by its bright gills that develop rusty spots when old, a white flap on the margin of young caps, and white fan-like mycelium. It has a bright ochre brown spore print. Most often the fruit bodies have a straight stem but if the specimens emerge from the side of a log the stem curves upwards due to
geotropism
Gravitropism (also known as geotropism) is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity pulling on it. It also occurs in fungi. Gravity can be either "artificial gravity" or natural gravity. It is a general featu ...
.
Taxonomy
Previously in
Western Australia, ''Gymnopilus allantopus'' was incorrectly referred to as the northern hemisphere species ''
Gymnopilus penetrans
''Gymnopilus'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms within the fungal family Strophariaceae containing about 200 rusty-orange spored mushroom species formerly divided among '' Pholiota'' and the defunct genus ''Flammula''. The fruit body is typic ...
''. It was also given the provisional name ''Gymnopilus austrosapineus'' to distinguish small specimens from large ones sent in the 19th century from Australia to M. J. Berkeley in
England. He named the large specimens as ''G. allantopus'' in 1845 and referred to it as a "very noble" species. Recent studies have revealed that Berkeley was sent only the largest specimens and he had wrongly assumed all specimens would be large-sized. Hence the name ''G. austrosapineus'' was determined to be superfluous because ''G. allantopus'' produces both small and large specimens.
[Bougher, N. L. (2009). Fungi of the Perth Region and Beyond: A self-managed field book. Western Australian Naturalists‟ Club (Inc.), Perth, Western Australia. Date Accessed: http://www.fungiperth.org.au 20/08/2014]
See also
*
List of ''Gymnopilus'' species
References
External links
Index Fungorum
allantopus
{{hymenogastraceae-stub