Bjerkandera adusta
Description
Bjerkandera adusta is an inedible polypore mushroom that has a velvety, snow-white cap surface when young, becoming smooth and off-white as it ages. It also has distinct brown regions on the pore surface. The species is widely distributed. It is often found on decaying wood such as stumps, trunks, branches, especially beech, birch, oak, poplar, willow, fence posts, wherever wood is available.
Young specimens have a characteristic gray to ocher brown color with a white edge. Older specimens become darker and the edge may also discolor. The pores on the underside are first silver-grey, later smoke-grey, and turn black when damaged.
Because B. adusta produces enzymes that can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as those used in synthetic textile dyes, there has been research interest in investigating the fungus for possible use in bioremediation. The research on these lignin-degrading enzymes produced by B. adusta, such as versatile peroxidase, has also shown in studies to be able to decolorize synthetic melanin. This feature may allow B. adusta to be utilized for melanin decolorization in future cosmetic applications.
Researchers from Japan have found that spores of the B. adusta can be present in large numbers in human saliva and mucous membranes, causing a persistent cough (10,13-15,18).
The number of synonyms (89) indicates the considerable variability of the species.
Common names: Smoky Polypore, Smoky Bracket, Grijze buisjeszwam (Netherlands), Angebrannter Rauchporling (German), Šedopórka osmahlá (Czech Republic).
Mushroom Identification
Cap
Bracket-like to shelf-like (and usually fused laterally with other caps), or merely a turned-over edge above a spreading pore surface - or occasionally lacking entirely; semicircular to irregular in outline; convex to flat; to about 10 cm wide and 6 cm deep; velvety to finely hairy, becoming bald with maturity; whitish to grayish, tan, or brownish; sometimes zoned; when mature with a brown to the black margin.
Pore Surface
Gray to black; sometimes bruising darker black; with 6-7 tiny, angular pores per mm; tubes to 2 mm deep.
Flesh
Whitish to faintly brownish; tough and corky or leathery.
Spore Print
White.
Habitat
Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods and, rarely, conifers; causing a white rot; annual; appearing year-round; widely distributed throughout North America.
Look-Alikes
Bjerkandera fumosa
Quite less diffused, at least in Italy, it differs due to the darker coloration of the carpophore, the spores slightly smaller, the porous surface from whitish to cream, and the pores slightly bigger. Grows only on broad-leaved plants.
-
Can also have gray pores, but its pores are irregularly elongated and the fruit body is hairy.
-
It differs in the white fertile surface rather than gray.
History
It was first described scientifically as Boletus adustus by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1787.
In 1880 Finnish mycologist Petter Adolf Karsten acquired its currently-accepted scientific name Bjerkandera adusta.
The specific epithet adusta means scorched; this probably refers to the "ash-gray" color. Bjerkandera refers to Clas Bjerkander (1735-1795), a Lutheran pastor, meteorologist, botanist and entomologist who studied at Uppsala University.
Synonyms
Boletus adustus Willd. 1787 (basionym)
Agaricus crispus (Pers.) E.H.L. Krause (1932)
Bjerkandera adusta f. carpinea (Sowerby) Donk
Bjerkandera adusta f. resupinata (Bourdot & Galzin) Domański Orloś & Skirg. 1967
Bjerkandera adusta f. solubilis (Velen.) Bondartsev 1953
Bjerkandera adusta f. tegumentosa (Velen.) Bondartsev 1953
Bjerkandera adusta f. zonatula (Quél.) Domański Orloś & Skirg. 1967
Bjerkandera isabellina (Schwein.) P. Karst. 1879
Bjerkandera scanica (Fr.) P. Karst. 1882
Boletus adustus var. crispus (Pers.) Pers. 1801
Boletus adustus Willd. var. adustus 1787
Boletus carpineus Sowerby 1799
Boletus concentricus Schumach. 1803
Boletus crispus Pers. 1799
Boletus fuscoporus J.J. Planer 1788
Boletus fuscoporus Planer 1788
Boletus isabellinus Schwein. 1822
Boletus pelleporus Bull. 1791
Boletus suberosus var. flabelliformis Batsch, 1789
Coriolus alabamensis Murrill 1907
Daedalea fennica (P. Karst.) P. Karst. 1906
Daedalea oudemansii var. fennica P. Karst. 1882
Daedalea solubilis Velen. 1926
Gloeoporus adustus (Willd.) Pilát 1937
Gloeoporus adustus (Willd.) Pilát f. adustus 1937
Gloeoporus adustus f. excavatus (Velen.) Pilát (1937)
Gloeoporus adustus f. excavavatus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937
Gloeoporus adustus f. solubilis (Velen.) Pilát, 1937
Gloeoporus adustus f. tegumentosus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937
Gloeoporus crispus (Pers.) G. Cunn. 1965
Grifola adusta (Willd.) Zmitr. & Malysheva 2006
Leptoporus adustus (Willd.) Quél. 1886
Leptoporus adustus (Willd.) Quél. f. adustus 1886
Leptoporus adustus f. resupinatus Bourdot & Galzin, 1928
Leptoporus adustus f. viridans Pilát 1936
Leptoporus adustus f. zonatulus Quél. 1886
Leptoporus albellus (Peck) Bourdot & L.Maire, 1920
Leptoporus albellus f. raduloides Pilát (1932)
Leptoporus crispus (Pers.) Quél., 1886
Leptoporus nigrellus Pat. 1903
Microporus gloeoporoides (Speg.) Kuntze, 1898
Microporus lindheimeri (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Kuntze, 1898
Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr. f. adustus 1821
Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr. subsp. adustus
Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr. var. adustus
Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr. 1821
Polyporus adustus f. resupinata Bres. 1922
Polyporus adustus f. resupinatus Bres., 1922
Polyporus adustus subsp. carpineus (Sowerby) Fr., 1874
Polyporus adustus var. argenteus (Ehrenb.) Pers., 1825
Polyporus adustus var. ater Velen., 1922
Polyporus adustus var. carpineus (Sowerby) Fr. 1874
Polyporus adustus var. pelleporus (Bull.) Pers., 1825
Polyporus amesii Lloyd 1915
Polyporus atropileus Velen. 1925
Polyporus burtii Peck 1897
Polyporus carpineus (Sowerby) Fr. 1818
Polyporus cinerascens Velen. 1922
Polyporus crispus (Pers.) Fr. (1821)
Polyporus crispus (Pers.) Fr. (1821) f. crispus
Polyporus crispus f. resupinata Bres. (1922)
Polyporus curreyanus Berk. ex Cooke, 1886
Polyporus digitalis Berk., 1854
Polyporus dissitus Berk. & Broome, 1875
Polyporus excavatus Velen., 1922
Polyporus fumosogriseus Cooke & Ellis, 1881
Polyporus halesiae Berk. & M.A.Curtis, 1853
Polyporus isabellinus (Schwein.) Steud. 1824
Polyporus lindheimeri Berk. & M.A. Curtis (1872)
Polyporus macowanii Kalchbr., 1881
Polyporus macrosporus Britzelm., 1894
Polyporus murinus Rostk., 1838
Polyporus nigrellus (Pat.) Sacc. & D. Sacc. 1905
Polyporus ochraceocinereus Britzelm., 1895
Polyporus scanicus Fr., 1863
Polyporus secernibilis Berk., 1847
Polyporus subcinereus Berk., 1839
Polyporus tegumentosus Velen., 1925
Polystictus adustus (Willd.) Fr.
Polystictus adustus (Willd.) Gillot & Lucand, 1890
Polystictus alabamensis (Murrill) Sacc. & Trotter, 1912
Polystictus carpineus (Sowerby) Konrad, 1923
Polystictus gloeoporoides Speg., 1889
Polystictus ochraceostuppeus Lloyd, 1916
Polystictus puberulus Bres., 1920
Poria argentea Ehrenb., 1818
Poria carnosa Rostr. ex Sacc. & D. Sacc., 1905
Poria curreyana (Berk. ex Cooke) G. Cunn. 1947
Tyromyces adustus (Willd.) Pouzar, 1966
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 5 - Author: Tomas P. (Public Domain)
