This is my second entry for @daveks black and white photo contest.
You can check my first entry about morel mushrooms here.
The theme of this contest is food and for this entry I've chosen to submit a picture of one of my favorite mushrooms, the Split Gill fungus (Schizophyllum commune).
This picture was taken with an iPhone 4S camera.
Although this mushroom is regarded as inedible or unpalatable in most Western mushroom identification guides, it's widely consumed in Mexico, India, and some tropical countries [1].
In the state of Manipur, it's called Kanglayen and it's one of the main ingredients of a mushroom pancake called "Paaknam". In the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram it's called Pasi (meaning tiny mushroom; Pa = mushroom, si = tiny).
In Mexico, it's called xi´i tnu kutu (meaning the mushroom of the copal tree; xi´i = mushroom, tnu (yutnu) = tree; kutu = copal) by the Mixtecs or Ñuu savi, a native group from southeastern Mexico that consumes this fungus as food [2].
S. commune is one of the most widely distributed fungi on the planet (as its species name indicates), being found in all continents except for Antarctica. And according to the Fungal Database published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this fungus can grow on 373 different species of trees, which explains why it's so spread.
This mushroom is easily recognized and really beautiful. Its fruiting bodies have no stem and have what look like gills on its underside. However, these are not gills but folds that appear to be split as they dry out and rehydrate many times over the course of a growing season (in fact, Schizophyllum means Split Leaves). This is part of the reproductive strategy of the fungus, since the mushroom can survive periods of dry weather by closing its gills, and reopen them to release its spores during periods of rain.
Other Macroscopic Features (from [4] and [5])
Ecology: Saprophytic, growing on decaying hardwood or parasitic on living trees causing white rot. Found more frequently growing gregariously to clustered. Found year round and widely distributed throughtout the world except for Antarctica.
Fruiting Bodies: 1-5 cm wide, fan-shaped and flat. The upper surface of the mushrooms is covered with small white to grayish hairs.
Odor/Taste: Not distinctive.
Spore Print: White.
Fun/Weird Facts: there's a bunch of documented cases of Schizophyllum commune growing in humans, specially inmunocompromised people, and in one case it was found growing through the soft palate of a child's mouth.
Sources:
[1] Ruán-Soto, F.; Garibay-Orijel, R.; Cifuentes, J. (2006). "Process and dynamics of traditional selling of wild edible mushrooms in tropical Mexico". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2 (1): 3.
[2] Hernández-Santiago, F. et al. (2016). "Traditional knowledge and use of wild mushrooms by Mixtecs or Ñuu savi, the people of the rain, from Southeastern Mexico". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 12:35.
[3] Farr, D.F.; Rossman. A.Y.; Fungal Databases, Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory, ARS, USDA (2006) http://nt.ars-grin.gov
[4] O'Reilly, P., Schizophyllum commune. Retrieved from the First-Nature.Com Web site: http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/schizophyllum-commune.php
[5] Kuo, M. (2003, June). Schizophyllum commune. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/schizophyllum_commune.html
[6] Restrepo, A. et al. (2009)."Ulceration of the palate caused by a Basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune". Sabouraudia: Journal of Medical and Veterinary Mycology. 11(3):201
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That is gorgeous. I've never seen one in the wild. We're about to get Honey caps in my area.
I've never heard of this species before - but I'm sure I've encountered it in person. That's horrendous that it grows in immuno-compromised people! Whattttt?!
I know you're citing to things in the body of the post with links, but if you :
Then I think you're going to have more success with a steemstem upvote - or a higher percentage upvote even - which would make this more lucrative.
Of course, non of that is stopping me from resteeming it :)
Thanks for the advice @dber!
I've added a sources section and I've expanded the references to the taxonomy of the mushroom from reputable sources.
Let me know what you think.
That's perfect
You've gotten me all excited for our fall rains! I see this little fungus all over the place, in so many environments. David Aurora, in "Mushrooms Demystified", reviews its edibility as:
Well, your post got me to looking around and there's a world of eating this mushroom out there! I've enjoyed other fungi that he's not given high marks for edibility (like the Insidious Gomphidius). How are you cooking your Split Gills? If you have a recipe, I'd like to try that out!
I've never tried eating S. commune but if you search "Kanglayen Paaknam recipe" on google you'll find a lot of recipes.
When I was doing some research to write this post I came across a lot of comments pf people mentioning its medicinal properties, and I did a quick search in Google Scholar and there are some papers about the antitumoral properties of some polysacharydes from this fungus.
I'm usually a bit hesitant to eat perennials polypores collected from the wild though. They tend to host all kinds of life on them (lots of bacteria and mold) but if you go ahead and try eating it I'd love to hear about it.
Btw, I really like the photos you submitted to the b&w contest!
That's an interesting perspective about perennial polypores. I'll have to consider that, for sure. It's amazing how many plants and fungi have medicinal properties of one kind or another.
This is such a widespread and common mushroom. Sometimes people think it's a Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor), but those gills underneath are so clear and distinctive!
When I started learning about mushrooms I used to confuse Schizophyllum commune with Panellus stipticus all the time for no particular reason.
Thanks for resteeming my article btw!
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