Auriscalpium vulgare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Auriscalpium vulgare, commonly known as the pinecone

mushroom, the cone tooth, or the ear-pick fungus, is a Auriscalpium vulgare
species of fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae of the order
Russulales. It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus,
who included it as a member of the tooth fungi genus
Hydnum, but British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray
recognized its uniqueness and in 1821 transferred it to the
genus Auriscalpium that he created to contain it. The fungus
is widely distributed in Europe, Central America, North
America, and temperate Asia. Although common, its small
size and nondescript colors lead it to be easily overlooked in
the pine woods where it grows. A. vulgare is not generally
considered edible because of its tough texture, but some
historical literature says it used to be consumed in France
and Italy.

The fruit bodies (mushrooms) grow on conifer litter or on

conifer cones that may be partially or completely buried in
Scientific classification
soil. The dark brown cap of the small, spoon-shaped
mushroom is covered with fine brown hairs, and reaches a Kingdom: Fungi
diameter of up to 2 cm (0.8 in). On the underside of the cap
Division: Basidiomycota
are a crowded array of tiny tooth-shaped protrusions
("teeth") up to 3 mm long; they are initially whitish to Class: Agaricomycetes
purplish-pink before turning brown in age. The dark brown
and hairy stem, up to 55 mm (2.2 in) long and 2 mm thick, Order: Russulales
attaches to one edge of the cap. The mushroom produces a Family: Auriscalpiaceae
white spore print out of roughly spherical spores.
Genus: Auriscalpium
High levels of humidity are essential for optimum fruit body Species: A. vulgare
development, and growth is inhibited by either too much or
too little light. Fruit bodies change their geotropic response Binomial name
three times during their development, which helps ensure Auriscalpium vulgare
that the teeth ultimately point downward for optimum spore
release. The pure culture, cell division and the ultrastructure Gray (1821)
of A. vulgare's hyphae and mycelia have been studied and
Synonyms[1]
described in search of potentially useful characters for
phylogenetic analysis. When grown in culture, the fungus List
can be induced to produce fruit bodies under suitable
Hydnum auriscalpium L.
conditions.
(1753)
Scutiger auriscalpium (L.)
Contents Paulet (1812)
Pleurodon auriscalpium (L.)
1 History, taxonomy and phylogeny P.Karst. (1881)
2 Description
2.1 Microscopic characteristics Leptodon auriscalpium (L.)
3 Growth in culture Qul. (1886)
4 Fruit body development
Hydnum atrotomentosum
5 Habitat and distribution
Schwalb (1891)
 6 References Auriscalpium auriscalpium
7 External links
(L.) Kuntze (1898)
Auriscalpium auriscalpium
History, taxonomy and phylogeny (L.) Banker (1906)
Hydnum fechtneri Velen.
The species was first described in the scientific literature by (1922)
Carl Linnaeus under the name Hydnum auriscalpium in his
Pleurodon fechtneri (Velen.)
1753 Species Plantarum. Linnaeus placed three other tooth
fungi in the genus Hydnum: H. imbricatum, H. repandum, Cejp (1928)
and H. tomentosum.[2] In 1821, Samuel Frederick Gray Auriscalpium fechtneri
considered H. auriscalpium to be sufficiently distinct from (Velen.) Nikol. (1964)
the other Hydnum species to warrant the creation of a new
genus, Auriscalpium, to contain it. In the process, its name
was changed to Auriscalpium vulgare.[3] Auriscalpium vulgare
Mycological characteristics
Otto Kuntze[4] and Howard James Banker[5] later
independently sought to restore Linnaeus' species name, but
teeth on hymenium
the resulting combination (Auriscalpium auriscalpium) is a
tautonym and disallowed under the rules for botanical
cap is offset
nomenclature (ICBN 2005 rule 23.4),[6] and these
combinations are therefore no longer validly published. stipe is bare
Other names given to the fungus and now considered
synonyms include Hydnum fechtneri, named by Josef spore print is white
Velenovsk in 1922,[7] and later combinations based on this
name.[1] A. vulgare is the type species of the widely ecology is saprotrophic

distributed genus of eight species that it belongs to.[8] edibility: inedible

Gloiodon strigosus
Gloiodon nigrescens
Auriscalpium vulgare
Dentipratulum bialoviesense
Despite vast
differences in appearance and morphology, A. vulgare is related to
such varied taxa as the gilled fungi of Lentinus, the poroid genus
Albatrellus, the coral-like Clavicorona, and fellow tooth fungus
Hericium.[10] The relationship of all of these taxamembers of the
family Auriscalpiaceae of the order Russulaleshas been
demonstrated through molecular phylogenetics.[9][11]

Auriscalpium vulgare is commonly known as the "pinecone

Various Lentinellus spp.
mushroom",[12] the "cone tooth",[13] "pine cone tooth", or the "ear-
Cladogram showing the phylogeny of pick fungus".[14] Gray called it the "common earpick-stool";[3] it was
A. vulgare and other Russulales species also referred to as the "fir-cone Hydnum", when it was still considered
based on rDNA sequences.[9]
to be a member of that genus.[15] The specific epithet vulgare means
"common".[14] The generic name Auriscalpium is Latin for "ear pick" and refers to a small, scoop-shaped
instrument used to remove foreign matter from the ear.[16]

Description
The fruit body of A. vulgare is fibrous when fresh and becomes stiff when dry. It is a small species rarely
exceeding 55 mm (2.2 in) in height, with a cap usually smaller than an adult's fingernails: 0.5 to 2 cm (0.2 to
0.8 in)although it has been known to reach up to 4 cm (1.6 in).[17]
Auriscalpium vulgare usually has a
single stem, but occasionally several
stems arise from a thick common base.
It attaches to the side of the cap and is
cylindrical or slightly flattened with a
bulbous base. Its surface is covered
with hairy fibers (especially near the
base), and its mature color is a dark
chestnut brown. The cap is
semicircular or kidney-shaped, flat on The cap surface is bristly when The spore-bearing surface features
the lower surface and rounded on the young. teeth up to 3 mm long.
top.[17] The surface is at first much
like the stem: covered with bristles and dark chestnut brown. However, it becomes smooth with maturity and
can darken to the point of being almost black. The cap margin is usually buff to light brownroughly the same
color as the spines and lighter in color than the center.[18] It becomes rolled inward (revolute) and often wavy in
maturity.[19] The spines on the underside of the cap are a few millimeters long and cylindrical down to their
sharp tips. White to light brown when young, they later become covered with a white spore mass and then turn
an ashy gray.[13][19] Occasionally, fruit bodies are produced that lack a cap entirely.[20]

"... the mushroom look(s) like a
little periscope sent up from a
pine-cone submarine."
Michael Kuo[21]
The cap flesh is composed of two distinct layers: a thin, compact, black-brown
and hairy upper layer, and a thick, soft, white to light brown lower layer that is
made of thin, thread-like filaments arranged in a roughly parallel fashion.[13]
The stem is similarly divided, with a thin, dark and hairy cortical layer
covered by hairs, which encircles inner ochre-colored flesh.[19] A drop of
potassium hydroxide applied to the surface of the mushroom will cause it to
instantly stain black.[21]

The mushroom, which has no distinct taste or odor, is generally considered inedible because of its toughness
and diminutive size.[22] An 1887 textbook noted, however, that it was "commonly eaten in France and
Italy".[23]

Microscopic characteristics

Spore deposits are white. Viewed under a light microscope, the spores
appear hyaline (translucent), covered with minute wart-like bumps, and
are spherical or nearly so, with dimensions of 4.65.5 by 45 m. They
are amyloid (reacting to Melzer's reagent) and cyanophilous (staining in
methyl blue).[13] The basidia (spore-bearing cells of the hymenium) are
four-spored with basal clamps, and measure 1524 by 34 m, and
sterigmata (extensions of the basidia that bear the spores) are swollen at
the base and roughly 3 m long. The hyphal system is dimitic,
comprising both generative (undifferentiated) and skeletal (structural) Microscopy image of a tooth at 100x
hyphae. The thin-walled generative hyphae are hyaline, and have clamp magnification, stained with Melzer's
connections; the thick-walled skeletal hyphae are thicker overall and reagent.
lack such connections. The cortex (the tougher outer layer of flesh) is
made of parallel unbranched generative hyphae that are brown, thick-
walled, clumped together, and frequently clamped. The internal flesh is made of interwoven generative and
skeletal hyphae. Gloeoplerous hyphae (containing oily or granular contents) are also present, protruding into
the hymenium as club-like or sharp-pointed gloeocystidia.[19]

The hyphae of basidiomycetous fungi are partitioned by cross-walls called septa, and these septa have pores
that permit the passage of cytoplasm or protoplasm between adjacent hyphal compartments. In an effort to
determine ultrastructural characters useful for systematic and phylogenetic analyses of the Agaricomycotina,
Gail Celio and colleagues used electron microscopy to examine both the structure of the septal pore, and
nuclear division in A. vulgare. They determined that septa found in hyphae of the hymenium have bell-shaped
pore "caps" with multiple perforations. Each cap extends along the length of the septum, along with a zone
surrounding the pore that is free of organelles. Due to the scarcity of similar data from other Agaricomycotina
species, it is unknown whether the extended septal pore cap margins of A. vulgare are phylogenetically
informative. Regarding nuclear division, the process of metaphase I of meiosis is similar to the metaphase of
mitosis. Spherical spindle pole bodies containing electron-opaque inclusions are set within gaps on opposite
ends of the nuclear membrane. This membrane has occasional gaps but is largely continuous. Fragments of
endoplasmic reticulum occur near the spindle pole bodies, but do not form a cap.[24]

Growth in culture
Auriscalpium vulgare can be grown in pure culture on agar-containing plates supplemented with nutrients. The
colonies that grow are white to pale cream, and cover the agar surface within six weeks from the initial
inoculation. The mycelium is made of bent-over hyphae, without any aerial hyphae (hyphae that extend above
the surface of the agar). Typically, two indistinct zones develop at about 6 mm and 15 mm from the initial
inoculum spot, with each zone roughly 4 mm wide. The zones appear somewhat lighter in color because the
hyphae are more closely packed and form crystalline substances that deposit into the agar.[25]

The mature mycelium consists of thin-walled, densely packed hyphae that are 1.53.2 m in diameter. They are
often gnarled or somewhat spiral (subhelicoid), and frequently branched at an angle of about 45, with a clamp
at the base of the branch. They contain amorphous granules that appear refractive when viewed under phase
contrast microscopy, and their walls are often encrusted with tiny granules. Gloeocystidia (thin-walled cystidia
with refractive, frequently granular contents) are common; they measure 5085 by 6.58.5 m, and are club-
shaped (sometimes elongated), thin-walled, and often have one or two lobes with rounded tips. Containing
foamy and pale yellow contents, they are a refractive yellow color under phase contrast. Initially they are erect
but they soon fall under their own weight to lie on the agar surface. Crystalline deposits are abundant as small,
randomly scattered plate-like or star-like crystals.[25]

Fruiting begins about six weeks after the initial inoculation on the agar plate, but only when portions of fruit
bodies (spines or stem sections) are used as the inoculum to initiate growth; the use of mycelium as the
inoculum precludes subsequent fruiting. Mature fruit bodies grow very close to the initial site of inoculation
within 3 mmand take about 60 days to mature after they first start to form.[25]

Fruit body development

Fruit body primordia first appear between the scales of the cones, and require 9 to 35 days to reach their final
height. They consist of an inner core of thin-walled generative hyphae enclosed by an outer coat of skeletal
hyphae. Immature fruit bodies are white and delicate, but gradually become brown as they mature. Because the
cap is grown from the stem tip after it bends, cap development interrupts stem growth, and this shift to
centrifugal growth (that is, growth outward from the stem) results in the typical kidney-shaped or semicircular
cap. Although the fruit body takes at least 9 days to mature, spores production begins within 4872 hours of the
start of cap growth. Spines start out as minute protuberances on the part of the stem adjoining the undersurface
of the cap. As the cap enlarges, these spines are spread horizontally, and more protuberances are formed, which
elongate vertically downwards.[20]

When grown in favorable conditions of high water availability and humidity, the fruit body can proliferate by
growing additional (secondary) fruit bodies on all parts of its upper and lower surfaces. These secondary
growths typically number between four and seven; some may be aborted as the nutrients from the pine cone
substrate are depleted, resulting in stems lacking caps. In one instance, a complete secondary proliferation was
noted (i.e., growing from a primary proliferation) that developed completely so as to produce viable spores.[20]
Humidity is a limiting factor for optimum fruit body development. Removal of incompletely mature laboratory-
grown specimens from a relative humidity (R.H.) of over 98% to one of 6575% causes the fruit bodies to
brown and stop growing. When transferred to an even
lower R.H. of about 50%, the stems quickly begin to
collapse. Light also affects fruit body development: both
continuous illumination and complete darkness inhibit
growth.[20]

When a stem is developing, the fungus is negatively

geotropic, so that if the axis of the stem is tilted by 90
degrees, it will return to a vertical position within 24
hours. The extending hyphae that form the cap are
themselves diageotropicthey will grow at right angles
to the direction of gravity. Finally, the spines are
positively geotropic, and will re-orient themselves to
point downward if the mushroom orientation changes.
Because the second (cap formation) and third (spine Growth on a fir cone; the inset images depict the cap at
formation) geotropic responses overlap, there is a brief different stages of development. Illustrated by Eugenius
period where two different geotropic responses are Warming.
operating simultaneously. These geotropic transitions
help ensure that the final alignment results in optimum
spore dispersal.[20]

Habitat and distribution

Auriscalpium vulgare is a saprobic species. Its mushrooms grow solitary
or clustered on fallen pine cones, especially those that are fully or
partially buried.[26] It typically favors Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris), but
has also been reported on spruce cones,[14] and in California grows
primarily on Douglas-fir cones.[18] One author noted finding the
mushroom on spruce needles on top of squirrel dens where cone bracts
were present in the forest floor.[27] In a study conducted in the Laojun
Mountain region of Yunnan Province, China, A. vulgare was found to be
one of the most dominant species collected from mixed forest at an Growing on a Douglas-fir cone
altitude of 2,6003,000 m (8,5009,800 ft).[28] A study on the effect of
slash and burn practices in northeast India showed that the fungus prefers to fruit on burned cones of the Khasi
Pine, and that the number of fruit bodies on unburned cones increases with cone girth.[29]

The fungus is widely distributed in Europe, Central and North America, temperate Asia,[30] and Turkey.[31] In
North America, its range extends from Canada[27] to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt south of Mexico
City.[32] The mushroom is common, appearing in the summer and autumn,[13] although it is easily overlooked
because of its small size and nondescript coloration.[18] A. vulgare is the only representative of its genus in
temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere.[33]

References

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International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
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External links
Auriscalpium vulgare in Index Fungorum
Wikimedia Commons has
AFTOL Images and details of ultrastructural characters
media related to
Auriscalpium vulgare.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Auriscalpium_vulgare&oldid=786475546"

Categories: Fungi described in 1753 Fungi of Asia Fungi of Central America Fungi of Europe
Fungi of North America Inedible fungi Russulales

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