Hymenochaetales » Hymenochaetaceae » Phellopilus

Phellopilus nigrolimitatus

Phellopilus nigrolimitatus (Romell) Niemelä, T. Wagner & M. Fisch. 2001, in Dai, Y.C., Fungal diversity, 45, 131-343 (2010)

Diagnosis: Fruitbody Basidiocarps perennial, resupinate, effused reflexed to pileate, inseparable, without odor or taste and soft corky when fresh, corky to hard corky and light-weight when dry, up to 24 cm long, 7 cm wide and 4 cm thick when resupinate. Pilei projecting up to 6 cm, 8 cm wide, and 4 cm thick at base. Pileal surface dark reddish brown to greyish black, obscurely zonate, tomentose to velutinate, more or less spongy, sometimes covered with mosses; margin yellowish brown, tomentose, obtuse or acute. Poroid surface honey yellowish brown to dull brown, glancing; sterile margin narrow, more or less receding with age; pores circular, 6–7 per mm; dissepiments thin, entire. Context dull brown to pale chestnut, corky, zonate or azonate, up to 1 cm thick, duplex, a distinct thin black line present. Tubes yellowish brown, paler than context and pore surface, hard corky, up to 3 cm long, tube layers distinct. Hyphal structure Hyphal system dimitic with skeleton-binding hyphae in context (similar to those in Polyporus, but brown); generative hyphae simple septate; tissue darkening but otherwise unchanged in KOH. Context Generative hyphae infrequent, hyaline, thin-walled, occasionally branched, frequently septate, 2– 4.5 μm in diam; skeletal hyphae yellowish brown to golden brown, fairly thick- to thick-walled with a wide lumen, mostly dichotomously branched like in the so-called skeleton-binding hyphae; skeletal parts frequently simple septate, occasionally collapsed, 4–7 μm in diam; hyphae in the black line dark brown, thick-walled, strongly interwoven and agglutinate. Tubes Generative hyphae infrequent, hyaline, thin-walled, occasionally branched, frequently septate, some of them at dissepiment edges with stellate crystal clusters (similar to those in Cinereomyces lenis (P. Karst.) Spirin), 1.4–2.3 μm in diam; skeletal hyphae dominant, rust-brown, thick-walled with a narrow to medium wide lumen, rarely branched, aseptate, flexuous, interwoven, 2–3.2 μm in diam. Setae frequent, mostly subulate, dark brown, thick-walled, 18–35×4–6.5 μm; basidia broadly clavate, with four sterigmata and a simple septum at the base, 8–10×4.5–5.5 μm; basidioles in shape similar to basidia, but slightly smaller; big rhomboid crystals present in hymenium; honeycomb structure usually present in old tubes. Spores Basidiospores narrowly obclavate to cylindric, straight, distinctly tapering at the apex, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, IKI–, CB–, (4–)4.8–6(–6.4)×(1.5–)1.6–2 μm, L=5.17 μm, W=1.88 μm, Q=2.75 (n=31/1).

Index Fungorum Number: IF474207

Notes: The presence of skeleto-binding hyphae in the context of Phellopilus nigrolimitatus is unusual for a species of the Hymenochaetaceae, and such kind of branching hyphae is more typical to species of Polyporus P. Micheli ex Adans. The skeleto-binding hyphae are not found in other species of the Hymenochaetaceae. The hymenium of Phellopilus nigrolimitatus is usually collapsed in herbarium specimens, and it is not easy to find the spores. In actively growing tubes the spores are readily observed, especially when studied in phase contrast illumination.

 

Figure 1. Basidiocarps of Phellopilus nigrolimitatus

Figure 2.  Microscopic structures of Phellopilus nigrolimitatus. a basidiospores; b setae; c rhomboid crystals from trama; d hyphae from context; e skeletal hyphae from trama; f hyphae at dissepiment edge

Reference:

Dai, Y.C. (2010). Hymenochaetaceae (Basidiomycota) in China. Fungal diversity, 45, 131-343.

 

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