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vääveltorik

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 3 months ago

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vääveltorik (Laetiporus sulphureus)

Laetiporus sulphureus

The Chicken of the Woods

 

[ Basidiomycetes > Polyporales > Polyporaceae > Laetiporus . . . ]

 

by Michael Kuo

 

The "Chicken of the Woods" is a popular edible, and easily recognized by its color, soft texture, and absence of gills. I'm not a big fan (it's a little "fungus-y" for me), but I know many people who love it. The young rosettes and the tender edges from mature clusters are more palatable than the older, tougher specimens. Though the Chicken of the Woods is a safe and easily recognized edible mushroom, it should not be eaten raw; there are reports of people being adversely affected when the mushroom was not cooked.

 

Recent mycological "splitting" has resulted in an array of species spanning North America, nearly all of which formerly "passed" as Laetiporus sulphureus. See the comments below for some of the details.

 

Description:

 

Ecology: Parasitic and saprobic; growing alone or, more typically, in large clusters on decaying logs and stumps of hardwoods and conifers; summer and fall, rarely in winter and spring; widely distributed as a species cluster, but the "true" Laetiporus sulphureus may be limited to areas east of the Rocky Mountains (see below). Laetiporus sulphurues causes a reddish brown cubical heart rot, with thin areas of white mycelium visible in the cracks of the wood. The mushrooms do not appear until well after the fungus has attacked the tree; by the time the chickens appear, they are definitely coming home to roost, as far as the tree's health is concerned.

 

Fruiting Body: 5-60 cm broad, up to 4 cm thick; fan-shaped to obtusely semicircular; smooth to gently wrinkled; suedelike; bright yellow to bright orange when young, frequently fading in maturity and with direct sunlight.

 

Pores: Tightly packed and nearly invisible when young; sulfur yellow; sometimes bruising darker.

 

Flesh: Thick; soft and watery when young, becoming tough, eventually crumbling away; white to pale yellow.

 

Spore Print: White.

 

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-7 x 3.5-5 µ; smooth; broadly elliptical to round.

 

REFERENCES: Murrill, 1904. (Smith, 1949; Overholtz, 1953; Arora, 1986; Gilbertson & Ryvarden, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Burdsall & Banik, 2001; Roody, 2003.) Herb. Kuo 06019501, 09250101.

 

Laetiporus cincinnatus is a similar species, found east of the Rockies, with a white pore surface. It grows from the roots of hardwoods (mainly oaks), at the butt of the trunk or terrestrially, away from the tree.

 

Laetiporus gilbertsonii grows in coastal western North America, from Oregon to Baja California, on oaks and Eucalyptus. The type collection for the species was made in Golden Gate Park, on Eucalyptus. It is morphologically indistinguishable from Laetiporus sulphureus, but the two species will not "mate" in culture, making them biologically distinct. It can be found growing on dead wood and on living trees.

 

Laetiporus conifericola, illustrated to the right, grows on living and dead conifer wood in western North America. Though morphologically indistinguishable, it is easily separated from other species of Laetiporus by its range and host wood. It has (very) slightly larger spores (6-8 x 4-5 µ). It, too, is a biological species--but it will mate, about 15 percent of the time, with a conifer-loving chicken from the Great Lakes area, Laetiporus huroniensis (which is much more often than I would).

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