Armillaria (Fr.) Staude 1857
Details
Nomenclature
Classification
Subordinates
- Armillaria aotearoa
- Armillaria bulbosa
- Armillaria fuscipes
- Armillaria heimii
- Armillaria hinnulea
- Armillaria hinnulea
- Armillaria limonea
- Armillaria matsutake
- Armillaria mellea
- Armillaria mellea
- Armillaria mellea
- Armillaria muscicola
- Armillaria novae-zelandiae
- Armillaria novae-zelandiae
- Armillaria obscura
- Armillaria ostoyae
- Armillaria polymyces
- Armillaria procera
- Armillaria sp.
- Armillaria sp. ('mellea')
- Armillaria sp. 'Orokuni (PDD 87529)'
- Armillaria subgen. Desarmillaria
- Armillaria tabescens
- Armillaria verrucipes
- Armillaria zelleri
Associations
Descriptions
Armillaria (Fr.) Staude 1857
Spore print white. Caps up to about 10 cm diam., smooth or with small scales on the top, sticky when wet, brownish or yellowish in colour. Stalk very tough, fibrous, darker than cap. Gills covered by a veil when young, the veil persistent as a ring around the stalk when mature, although the ring often becomes flattened against the stalk. Gills attached to stalk.
Typically found in large groups on large pieces of fallen wood and dead stumps. Forms thick, black, bootlace-like ‘rhizomorphs’ beneath the bark of the wood on which it is growing. The rhizomorphs also grow through the soil, allowing the fungus to move through the forest to colonise new pieces of wood.
Apparently saprobic in undisturbed native forest, but can cause disease in some situations. The rhizomorphs can attack and kill living roots, especially of introduced tree species in disturbed sites for example pine trees planted in areas of recently cut native forest. Armillaria also colonises wood from spores dispersed through the air, and it may become established on cut stumps in parks or orchards. From these stumps the rhizomorphs can grow out and kill surrounding trees.
At least three species in New Zealand, all indigenous. The species are distinguished by rather subtle differences in size and colour. The two most common species are A. limonea and A. novaezelandiae.
Large, wood-inhabiting mushrooms, typically developing in gregarious groups. The tough, often darkened, stipe has a ring. Characterised by 'boot-strap' rhizomorphs extending through colonised wood. Some species are edible and good.
Often causing root-rot disease in trees and shrubs in human landscapes, where the disease can spread from plant to plant via the rhizomorphs under the soil. Common also in native forests throughout the country, where it apparently causes no disease.
Four species have been reported from New Zealand, only those listed below have descriptions or images available from NZFungi.
Armillaria (Fr.) Staude 1857
Pileus regular, fleshy; gills adnate or sometimes slightly decurrent ; stem central, furnished with a ring; spores white.
All white-spored Agarics with gills touching the stem, and a ring or annulus on the stem, belong to the present genus.: Lepiota differs in having the gills free from the stem. On branches or on the ground, round decaying stumps.