Medicinal Mushrooms

Agaricus limacinus Schaeff.
Hygrocybe persoonii (Arnolds) X.L. Mao
Hygrophorus dichrous sensu NCL (1960); fide Checklist of Basidiomycota of Great Britain and Ireland (2005)
Hygrophorus limacinus sensu auct.; fide Checklist of Basidiomycota of Great Britain and Ireland (2005)
Hygrophorus olivaceoalbus sensu Lange; fide Checklist of Basidiomycota of Great Britain and Ireland (2005)
Limacium olivaceoalbum sensu Lange [Fl. Dan. 5, pl. 162A]

Olijfkleurige slijmkop (Dutch)
Olivbraungestiefelter Schneckling (German)
Olajszínű csigagomba (Hungarian)
Vitbrun vaxskivling (Swedish)

Cap: 3-10 cm diameter; convex to umbonate or plane; glutinous or viscid.
Stem: 8-12 cm long, 1-3 cm thick; solid; equal or clavate; with double sheath.
Gills: white; adnate to decurrent; broad; close to subdistant.
Spores: ellipsoid; smooth; 9-12 x 5-7 µm.
Spore print: white.
Chemical tests: The stem of H. persoonii  turns yellow to brown when a drop of KOH solution is applied.

Bioactive compounds

Separation of the petroleum ether extract of H. persoonii by solid phase extraction and HPLC revealed six new compounds, shown below (Lubken et al., 2004). These petroleum ether-soluble cyclopentanone derivatives, called hygrophorones, bear some structural similarity to the antibiotic pentenomycin.

4,6-di-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹²     (R₁=Ac, R₂=H, R₃=Ac, n=12)
4-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹²             (R₁=Ac, R₂=H, R₃=H, n=12)
6-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹²             (R₁=H, R₂=H, R₃=Ac, n=12)
4,6-di-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹⁴     (R₁=Ac, R₂=H, R₃=Ac, n=14)
4-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹⁴             (R₁=Ac, R₂=H, R₃=H, n=14)
6-o-acetyl hygrophorone A¹⁴             (R₁=H, R₂=H, R₃=Ac, n=14)

Although all of the hygrophorones have some antifungal activity, 4-O-acetyl hygrophorone A¹² was the most active against the test pathogen Cladiosporium cucumerinum (Lubken et al., 2004).

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of H. persoonii and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 100% and 90%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

Web

There's a gallery of images at Bioimages.

References

Lubken T, Schmidt J, Porzel A,  Arnold N, Wessjohann L.
Hygrophorones A-G: fungicidal cyclopentenones from Hygrophorus species (Basidiomycetes).
Phytochemistry. 2004 65(8):1061-71.

Ohtsuka S, Ueno S, Yoshikumi C, Hirose F, Ohmura Y, Wada T, Fujii T, Takahashi E.
Polysaccharides having an anticarcinogenic effect and a method of producing them from species of Basidiomycetes.
UK Patent 1331513, 26 September 1973.

Last modified: 13-Aug-2008

Agaricus atricapillus Batsch
Agaricus cervinus Schaeff.
Agaricus curtisii Berk. & Broome
Agaricus pluteus Batsch
Agaricus pluteus ß rigens Pers.
Hyporrhodius cervinus (Schaeff.) Henn.
Pluteus atricapillus (Batsch) Fayod
Pluteus cervinus P. Kumm.
Pluteus curtisii Berk.
Rhodosporus cervinus (Schaeff.) J. Schröt.

Deer mushroom
Fawn mushroom
Rehbrauner Dachpilz (German)

Cap: 5-12 cm broad, convex, nearly plane in age, umbonate; dark brown to grey-brown, lighter in age; smooth, sometimes streaked with radially oriented fibers, moist; flesh soft, white; odor of radish.
Gills: free, close, white, becoming pinkish to flesh-colored at maturity.
Stem: 5-10 cm tall, 0.5-1.5 cm thick, equal to enlarged at base; white to greyish-brown, sometimes with dark fibrils; veil absent.
Spores: 5.0-7.5 x 4-6 µm, smooth, elliptical.
Spore print: salmon-pink.
Habitat: Solitary to scattered on hardwood and conifer logs, occasionally from buried wood, in sawdust piles or wood chips; fruiting from after the first fall rains through mid-winter.
Edibility: Edible, but taste and texture are mediocre.

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of P. cervinus and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 100% (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

Links

Once featured in Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month

Reference

Ohtsuka S, Ueno S, Yoshikumi C, Hirose F, Ohmura Y, Wada T, Fujii T, Takahashi E.
Polysaccharides having an anticarcinogenic effect and a method of producing them from species of Basidiomycetes.
UK Patent 1331513, 26 September 1973.

Last modified: 13-Aug-2008

Exidia foliacea (Pers.) P. Karst.
Gyraria foliacea (Pers.) Gray
Phaeotremella pseudofoliacea Rea
Tremella ferruginea sensu auct.; fide Checklist of Basidiomycota of Great Britain and Ireland (2005)
Tremella fimbriata Pers.
Tremella foliacea var. fimbriata (Pers.) S. Lundell
Tremella foliacea var. pseudofoliacea (Rea) Kobayasi
Tremella foliacea var. succinea (Pers.) Neuhoff
Tremella frondosa sensu auct.; fide Checklist of Basidiomycota of Great Britain and Ireland (2005)
Tremella nigrescens Fr., Summa veg. Scand.
Tremella succinea Pers.
Ulocolla foliacea (Pers.) Bref.

Brown witch's butter
Leafy jelly fungus
Leafy brain fungus

Fruiting body: 3-15 cm across, irregularly globose to cushion-shaped, a mass of irregular, ruffled, leaf-like lobes arising from a common base; surface viscid in wet weather, otherwise moist, individual blades variously wrinkled to folded, upper and lower surfaces fertile; color: red-brown to cinnamon-brown, darkening in age, or when dry; context thin, somewhat translucent, rubbery; odor and taste mild.
Spores: 9-11 x 6-8 µm, subglobose to oval, smooth, hyaline, nonamyloid.
Spore deposit: spores are produced on the entire surface of the fruitbody. In deposit, the spores are colored cream to pale-yellow.
Habitat: usually solitary on rotting hardwood logs and branches; fruiting mainly in late summer and autumn. Widespread, but not common.

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of T. foliacea and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 60% (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

Brown witch's butter was found to not produce antibacterial compounds when screened using an overlay assay (McCormack et al., 1994).

Links

There's a photo gallery at the Mushroom Observer.

References

McCormack PJ, Wildman HG, Jeffries P.
Production of antibacterial compounds by phylloplane-inhabiting yeasts and yeastlike fungi.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 1994 60(3):927-31.

Ohtsuka S, Ueno S, Yoshikumi C, Hirose F, Ohmura Y, Wada T, Fujii T, Takahashi E.
Polysaccharides having an anticarcinogenic effect and a method of producing them from species of Basidiomycetes.
UK Patent 1331513, 26 September 1973.

Last modified: 15-Aug-2008

Overhead view of Coltricia cinnamomea, taken in woods near La Ronge, Saskatchewan.
  Credit: Robert Sasata
  Source: © healing-mushrooms.net

Classification

Kingdom Fungi
Phylum Basidiomycota
Class Basidiomycetes
Order Hymenochaetales
Family Hymenochaetaceae
Genus Coltricia

Synonyms

Boletus cinnamomeus Jacq.
Coltricia oblectans (Berk.) G. Cunn.
Coltricia parvula (Klotzsch) Murrill
Coltricia perennis f. casimiri (Velen.) Bondartsev
Microporus bulbipes (Fr.) Kuntze
Microporus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Kuntze
Microporus oblectans (Berk.) Kuntze
Microporus parvulus (Klotzsch) Kuntze
Pelloporus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Quél.
Pelloporus fimbriatus var. cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Quél.,
Polyporus baudysii Kavina
Polyporus bulbipes Fr.
Polyporus bulbipes var. cladonia (Berk.) Sacc.
Polyporus casimirii Velen. [as 'casimiri']
Polyporus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Pers.
Polyporus cladonia Berk.
Polyporus oblectans Berk.
Polyporus parvulus Klotzsch
Polyporus splendens Peck
Polyporus subsericeus Peck
Polystictus bulbipes (Fr.) Fr.
Polystictus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Sacc.
Polystictus cladonia (Berk.) Sacc.
Polystictus oblectans (Berk.) Cooke
Polystictus parvulus (Klotzsch) Fr.
Polystictus perennis f. casimiri (Velen.) Pilát
Polystictus perennis f. cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Pilát
Strilia cinnamomea (Jacq.) Gray
Strilia cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Gray
Xanthochrous bulbipes (Fr.) Pat.
Xanthochrous cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Pat.
Xanthochrous oblectans (Berk.) Pat.
Xanthochrous parvulus (Klotzsch) Pat.
Xanthochrous splendens (Peck) Pat.

Shiny cinnamon polypore

Cap: circular, 1.0-5.0 cm across, shallowly to strongly infundibuliform, sometimes merely plano-depressed or umbilicate; margin at maturity deflexed, wavy, thin, entire to eroded; when young, growing around and incorporating twigs and debris; surface reddish-brown, rust-brown, to chestnut-brown, usually faintly-zonate, velutinate at the disc, elsewhere silky to coarsely, appressed fibrils, if the former, then somewhat shiny in appearance; context thin, 0.5-2.0 mm thick, colored like the cap surface, blackish with 3% KOH.
Hymenophore: Pore layer adnate to subdecurrent, cinnamon-brown to tan; pores 2-3 per mm, elongate at first, angular and thin-walled in age; tubes 1-2 mm deep, concolorous with the pore surface.
Stem: 1-4 cm long, 1-3 mm thick, central, round to compressed, solid, equal except enlarged at the base, the latter often fused with adjacent fruiting bodies; surface finely velutinous, rust-brown to dull orange-brown; context leathery when fresh, rigid at maturity, colored like the stem surface.
Spores: 6.5-8.5 x 4.5-5.0 µm, oblong to ellipsoid, smooth, thin-walled, inequilateral, slightly bean-shaped in profile.
Habitat: scattered, gregarious, to caespitose, in soil and humus in mixed or coniferous woods; fruiting winter and spring along the coast.
Edibility: inedible, leathery.

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of C. cinnamomea and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 90% and 100%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

Ohtsuka S, Ueno S, Yoshikumi C, Hirose F, Ohmura Y, Wada T, Fujii T, Takahashi E.
Polysaccharides having an anticarcinogenic effect and a method of producing them from species of Basidiomycetes.
UK Patent 1331513, 26 September 1973.

Last modified: 17-Aug-2008