Lentinus strigosus

What You Should Know

Lentinus strigosus is a species of fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It is edible when young, but becomes very tough with age. The expanded cap is semi-vase-shaped with an inrolled edge, usually purple then fading to brownish. The flesh is white, thin, and tough. The gills are close, narrow, and cap-colored then whitish. The stipe is short, lateral, and hairy. The taste is often bitter. The spores are white and smooth.

It is grow rather like oyster mushrooms or Split Gill fungi, with a very short eccentric stem, wavy margins, and shallowish gills that fork.

Other names: Ruddy Panus, A Wood-Rotting Mushroom.

Lentinus strigosus Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   Usually semi-circular or oyster-shaped when growing on standing wood, but as shown in the picture above rosette forms sometimes occur when fruiting on dead wood lying on the ground. Caps are up to 10cm across, developing wavy margins; tough; densely fuzzy; reddish to purplish-brown when young, fading to tan with age.

2. Stem

   Nearly always eccentrically attached; very stubby and often invisible because it is embedded within the substrate; paler than the cap; usually fuzzily textured.

3. Gills

   Pale mauve or pale purple when young and fresh, turning paler and later browning with age; decurrent to the stem.

4. Spores

   Ellipsoidal, smooth, 4.5-6.5 x 2.5-4µm; inamyloid.

5. Spore Print

   White or very pale yellow.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

Lentinus strigosus Look-Alikes

1. Panrus conchatus

   Similar but scaly rather than fuzzy, and its spores are slightly longer and narrower (a higher Q value); it is occasionally found in Britain and other northern European countries.

2. Phyllotopsis nidulans

   Similar, but is orange-yellow and has a poor odor.

Lentinus strigosus Taxonomy and Etymology

Despite having gills, fungi in the genus Panus are now thought to be much more closely related to the Polypores than to the Agaricales - another example of parallel evolution.

Panus, the genus name, probably comes from Greek and means a swelling or tumor (a growth, therefore). Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described and named this species in 1838.

Just as it sounds, the specific epithet rudis comes from the same stem as 'rudimentary' and means basic, rough, or raw; this suggests a mushroom of lower esteem than other (oyster-like) species of similar appearance.

Lentinus strigosus Synonyms

1. Agaricus crinitus Schwein. (1822)

2. Agaricus strigosus Schwein. (1822)

3. Lentinus lecomtei Fr. (1825)

4. Agaricus strigopus Pers. (1827)

5. Agaricus hirtus Secr. (1833)

6. Lentinus strigopus (Pers.) Fr. (1836)

7. Agaricus macrosporus Mont. (1837)

8. Lentinus capronatus Fr. (1838)

9. Lentinus strigosus Fr. (1838)

10. Panus rudis Fr. (1838)

11. Agaricus sainsonii Lév. (1842)

12. Lentinus chaetophorus Lév. (1844)

13. Panus lamyanus Mont. (1856)

14. Panus hoffmannii Fr. (1865)

15. Panus sainsonii (Lév.) Heufl. (1867)

16. Lentinus sparsibarbis Berk. & M.A.Curtis (1868)

17. Pleurotus macrosporus (Mont.) Sacc. (1887)

18. Pocillaria chaetophora (Lév.) Kuntze (1891)

19. Pocillaria sparsibarbis (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Kuntze (1891)

20. Pocillaria strigosa (Fr.) Kuntze (1891)

21. Lentinus lamyanus (Mont.) Henn. (1898)

22. Lentinus rudis (Fr.) Henn. (1898)

23. Pocillaria lamyana (Mont.) Kuntze (1898)

24. Pocillaria rudis (Fr.) Kuntze (1898)

25. Lentinus substrigosus Henn. & Shirai (1900)

26. Panus rudis f. sainsonii (Lév.) Malk. (1932)

27. Pleurotus rudis (Fr.) Pilát (1935)

28. Panus fragilis O.K.Mill. (1965)

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: GLJIVARSKO DRUSTVO NIS from Serbia (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Photo 2 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)

Photo 3 - Author: Ian Dodd (kk) (www.kundabungkid.com) Australia (kundabungkid) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 4 - Author: Volker Fäßler (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)