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Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968

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Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb, New Zealand J. Bot. 6 142 (1968)

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(Berk. & Broome) McNabb
Berk. & Broome
McNabb
1968
142
ICN
SriLanka
species
Phaeogyroporus portentosus

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portentosus

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Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968

COLLECTIONS EXAMINED: Under native trees and shrubs, Auckland Domain, Feb 1964, J. D. Reid, 23791; Jan-Feb 1966, Feb 1967, R.F.R. McN., 25144-7, 25594; Meadowbank, Apr 1967, E. B. Ashcroft, 25744.
PILEUS: convex, plano-convex, applanate or centrally depressed with reflexed margins, 14-23-(29) cm diam., dry, tomentose to velutinate, often creviced with age, olive brown to dark olive brown, occasionally dull brownish black in places, sometimes tinted reddish brown, crevices khaki; cuticle a trichodermium, composed of erect, branched hyphae 4-7 µm. diam., with clamp connections and rounded or acuminate apices, terminal cells with brown contents; margin entire, often extending beyond pores, sterile. HYMENOPHORE: tubes to 15mm long, slightly excavated around apex of stipe, sordid yellow to yellowish brown when young, olive brown at maturity; pores at first concolorous with tubes, darker at maturity, small, regular, 0.5-0.75 mm diam. STIPE: 4-8 cm long, stout, ventricose-bulbous, 3-5 cm diam. apically, to 7 cm diam. basally, solid, dry, coarsely sulcate basally, finely tomentose to velutinate, concolorous with pileus, deep mustard brown or dull brownish black, usually darker basally; flesh sordid white to pallid fawn, at length becoming pinkish on exposure to air, annulus absent. SPORES: spore print olive brown (Buffy Citrine); spores deep melleous, short-elliptical, obovate or occasionally broadly obpyriform, 7.5-10-(13.5) X 5-7.2-(9.9) µm smooth. HYMENIUM: basidia hyaline, clavate, 18-25 X 4-6 µm., 4-spored; cystidia absent. HYMENOPHORAL TRAMA: bilateral, of the Boletus subtype, containing conspicuous oleiferous hyphae to 11 µm. diam.; clamp connections present. CONTEXT OF PILEUS: white to sordid white when young, becoming pallid fawn to pallid creamy yellow at maturity, flushed with pink on exposure to air with greenish blue areas at apex of stipe and immediately above tubes. TASTE: slightly acrid with oily texture. SMELL: not distinctive. CHEMICAL REACTIONS: KOH on pileus—dark reddish brown; on context of pileus—no definite reaction; NH4OH on pileus—dark reddish brown; on context—faint pink flush.
HABITAT: Gregarious or occasionally solitary under native broad-leaved trees and shrubs.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Boedijn, Reel Trav. bot. neeri. 26: 412, fig. 4. 1929; Cleland, Toadstools and Mushrooms and other Larger Fungi of South Australia, Part 2, 192, fig. 39. 1935.

It seems likely that Phaeogyroporus portentosus is an indigenous species, for an immature specimen, indistinguishable from similarly aged specimens of  P. portentosus, has been collected in dense native forest near Rotorua by Mr. G. B. Rawlings. When the natural geographical distribution of the species is considered (Australia, Ceylon, Indonesia), its presence in the warmer parts of New Zealand is not unexpected.

The mycorrhizal status of P. portentosus is uncertain. Earlier descriptions contain little information about its habitat, but, on the basis of field observations, Fisch (1945) suggested that in Australia it formed mycorrhizal associations with Eucalyptus. The fungus has appeared in the Auckland Domain for a number of years and is restricted to a small area in a planted border of native trees and shrubs. The only plant with which it could form an association in this area is a single tree of Nothofagus truncata. The collection from Meadowbank was not associated with any known mycorrhizal plant.

New Zealand specimens agree closely with earlier descriptions of the species and with Australian specimens identified by Cleland (ADW), except that both Fetch (1907) and Boedijn (1951) described the pileus as smooth. P. portentosus readily fits within Singer's (1962) circumscription of Phaeogyroporus. although cystidia are absent. It seems likely that Phaeogyroporus is a later synonym of Phlebopus (Heim) Singer 1936. Singer (1962) regarded Phlebopus as a nomen dubium on the doubtful grounds that the type specimen of Boletus colossus Heim, the only species originally described in the genus, was no longer in existence. Heim (1965) recently pointed out that specimens of B. colossus are preserved in Paris (PC). The two genera appear to be closely related and, if on re-examination of B. colossus the presence of clamp connections is demonstrated, it will be difficult to maintain them as separate genera.

The genus Phaeogyroporus contains some of the largest Agaricales known: Cleland (1935) reported that specimens of P. portentosus reached 60 cm in diameter and weighed up to 7 lb 2 oz. P. portentosus is regarded as an edible species in Australia.

The species may be distinguished by the large, olive brown fruitbodies, short-elliptical spores, and the presence of clamp connections. It has not previously been recorded from New Zealand.

TYPE LOCALITY: Ceylon.

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Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb (1968)
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb (1968)
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb (1968)
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb (1968)
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb

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Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Auckland
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Bay of Plenty
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Coromandel
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Gisborne
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Nelson
Phaeogyroporus portentosus (Berk. & Broome) McNabb 1968
New Zealand
Wellington

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1cb19894-36b9-11d5-9548-00d0592d548c
scientific name
Names_Fungi
1 January 2000
12 April 2015
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