''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
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the Ovary (plants), ovary after flowering plant, flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their ...
is typically reddish brown to rusty orange to yellow, medium to large, often with a well-developed
veil. Most members of ''Gymnopilus'' grow on wood but at times may appear terrestrial if the wood is buried or decomposed. Members of ''Pholiota'' and ''
Cortinarius'' are easy to confuse with ''Gymnopilus''. ''Pholiota'' can be distinguished by its viscid
cap and duller (brown to cinnamon brown)
spores, and ''Cortinarius'' grows on the ground. Beginners can confuse ''Gymnopilus'' with ''
Galerina'', which contains deadly poisonous species.
The genus ''Gymnopilus'' has over 200 species worldwide.
[
The name means ''naked pileus''.
]
Psychoactive species
Fourteen members of ''Gymnopilus'' contain psilocybin, although their bitter taste often deters recreational users. These species include '' G. aeruginosus'', '' G. braendlei'', '' G. cyanopalmicola'',[ '' G. dilepis'' ,'' G. intermedius'', '' G. junonius'', '' G. luteofolius'', '' G. luteoviridis'', '' G. luteus'', '' G. purpuratus'',][ '' G. subearlei'',][ '' G. subpurpuratus'',][ '' G. validipes'' and '' G. viridans''. Subspecies of ''G. junonius'' from ]Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
are reported to contain psilocybin, while some western North American members are inactive.
Several species of ''Gymnopilus'' contain bis-noryangonin -hydroxy-6-(4-hydrostyryl)-2-pyroneand hispidine -hydroxy-6-(3,4-dihydroxystyryl)-2-pyrone which are closely related to the alpha-pyrones found in kava
Kava or kava kava (''Piper methysticum'': Latin 'pepper' and Latinized Greek 'intoxicating') is a crop of the Pacific Islands. The name ''kava'' is from Tongan and Marquesan, meaning 'bitter'; other names for kava include ''ʻawa'' (Hawaiʻi), ...
.
Phylogenetics
A 2003 phylogenetics study identified five well-supported clades within ''Gymnopilus'':monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
, the phylogenetically related groups do not support the traditional infrageneric classifications based on morphology.
References
*C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell et al., ''Introductory Mycology, 4th ed.'' (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004)
* Hesler, L. R. (1969). North American species of ''Gymnopilus''. New York: Hafner. 117 pp.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1498027
Agaricales genera