Medicinal Mushrooms

Agaricus sejunctus Sowerby
  Coloured Figures of English Fungi … 2: tab. 126 (1799) [1798-99]
Melanoleuca sejuncta (Sowerby) Murrill
  N. Amer. Fl. (New York) 10(1): 25 (1914)

Deceiving knight
Braungelber Ritterling (German)
Streephoedridderzwam (Dutch)

Description

Cap: 3-9 cm diameter, conical to convex when young, expanding to plano-convex with large, broad umbo, with deflexed to more or less straight margin, yellow or greenish yellow, surface slightly viscid when moist, fibrillose with dark fibrils, especially at center, at margin sometimes with some fibrillose-squamulose remnants of veil.
Gills: fairly close, adnate to emarginate, segmentiform to ventricose, white to grayish-pink initially, becoming yellow near cap margin; entire to eroded, concolorous edge.

  Credit: Douglas Smith
  Source: Mushroom Observer (CC-by-nc-sa-3.0)
Stem: 7-13 cm tall x 0.8-2.5 cm thick, cylindrical to subclavate, often with pointed, tapering base, white at apex, towards base with yellow tinge, at very base sometimes with pinkish-reddish tinge, pruinose-scurfy at apex, strongly fibrillose/striate below; context white.
Odor: strongly farinaceous/fruity.
Taste: strongly farinaceous with bitter aftertaste.
Edibility: inedible, possible gastrointestinal irritant.
Spore print: white.
Spores: subglobose to ellipsoid with pronounced hilar appendage, smooth, inamyloid, 6-7.5 x 4.5-6 µm.
Habitat: single or in small groups, ectomycorrhizal, associated with Quercus or Fagus; late summer and fall.

Description adapted from Bas et al., 1990, p. 114

Medicinal properties
Antitumor effects

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

Links

Mushroom Expert
BC Mushrooms

References

Bas C, Kuyper TW, Noordeloos ME, Vellinga EC. (1990).
Flora Agaricina Neerlandica: Critical Monographs on Families of Agarics and Boleti Occurring in the Netherlands. Vol 2.
Balkema, Rotterdam, Brookfield. 144 pp.

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: 26-Sep-2008

The birch knight, Tricholoma fulvum (Bull.) Sacc.
  Credit: 'Strobilomyces'
  Source: Wikimedia Commons (GFDL)

Agaricus flavobrunneus Fr.
  Observ. mycol. (Havniae) 2: 119 (1818)
Agaricus fulvus Bull.
  Herbier de la France 12: tab. 555, fig. 2 (1792)
Agaricus nictitans Fr.
  Syst. mycol. (Lundae) 1: 38 (1821)
Tricholoma flavobrunneum (Fr.) P. Kumm.
  Führ. Pilzk. (Zwickau): 130 (1871)
Tricholoma nictitans (Fr.) Gillet
  Hyménomycètes (Alençon): 93 (1874)

Birch knight
Yellowbrown knight cap
Birke-ridderhat (Danish)
Berkenridderzwam (Dutch)
Tricolome brun et jaune (French)
Gelbblätriger Ritterling (German)

Cap: 3-12 cm diameter, convex with umbo and involute to deflexed margin initially, expanding to applanate with or without low umbo, sometimes with undulating marginal zone, with straight margin, red-brown with paler marginal zone, subviscid when moist, becoming distinctly radially fibrillose on drying, finally often breaking up in small, irregular, appressed squamules; marginal zone often having a rough rib-like texture with age.
Gills: crowded, adnate-emarginate, occasionally forked near attachment of stem, narrowly ventricose, pale yellow, often developing reddish brown spots on edges in maturity, with eroded, concolorous edge, particularly near edge when old.

Credit: James Lindsey
Source: James Lindsey's Ecology of Commanster Site
Stem: 4-12 cm tall x 0.5-2 cm thick, cylindrical, sometimes tapering upwards, sometimes flexuous, at very apex white, finely pruinose-flocculose, sometimes rather sharply delimited from lower part; below strongly fibrillose-subsquamulose with red-brown fibrils on paler, yellow or brown background, basal part often tinged clear yellow; becoming hollow with age.
Context: whitish to pale yellow in cap, yellow in stem.
Spore print: white.
Spores: subglobose to oblong with pronounced hilar appendage, smooth, nonamyloid, 5-6.5 x 3.5-5 µm.
Odor: strongly farinaceous when cut.
Taste: farinaceous or slightly bitter.
Edibility: inedible.
Habitat: in small groups, ectomycorrhizal, in association with Betula, in swamp forest and in dry deciduous woods.

Description adapted from Bas et al., (1990), p. 128.

Medicinal properties
Antitumor effects

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of T. fulvum (as T. flavobrunneum) and administered intraperitoneally into white mice at a dosage of 300 mg/kg inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 80% and 70%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

Links

• Fungi of Poland and Rogers Mushrooms have photos and descriptions
• BioImages has many photos at various angles and several closeups

References

Bas C, Kuyper TW, Noordeloos ME, Vellinga EC. (1990).
Flora Agaricina Neerlandica: Critical Monographs on Families of Agarics and Boleti Occurring in the Netherlands.
Balkema, Rotterdam, Brookfield. 137 pp.

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: 24-Sep-2008

Angel's wings, Pleurocybella porrigens (Pers) Singer.
  Credit: Ben Mitchell
  Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

Agaricus porrigens Pers.
  Observ. mycol. (Lipsiae) 1: 54 (1796)
Nothopanus porrigens (Pers.) Singer
  Beih. Sydowia 7: 19 (1973)
Phyllotus porrigens (Pers.) P. Karst.
  Bidr. Känn. Finl. Nat. Folk 32: 92 (1879)
Pleurotellus porrigens (Pers.) Kühner & Romagn.
  Fl. Analyt. Champ. Supér. (Paris): 74 (1953)
Pleurotus albolanatus Peck, in Kauffman
  Publications Mich. geol. biol. Surv., Biol. Ser. 5 26: 672 (1918)
Pleurotus porrigens (Pers.) P. Kumm.
  Führ. Pilzk. (Zwickau): 104 (1871)

Classification

Kingdom Fungi
Phylum Basidiomycota
Class Basidiomycetes
Order Agaricales
Family Tricholomataceae
Genus Pleurocybella

Angel's wings
Kridthat (Danish)
Korvavinokas (Finnish)
Pleurote étalé (French)
Ohrförmiger Seitling (German)
Żagiew łuskowata (Polish)
Hlivec biely (Slovak)
Hlíva ušatá (Czech)
Öronmussling (Swedish)
Krittostersopp (Norwegian)
Sugihiratake (Japanese)

Fruiting body: 5-10 cm diameter, convex, shell- or petal- or fan-shaped (pleurotoid), white, minutely hairy, margin inrolled at first.
Stem: sessile.
Gills: decurrent, long, crowded, narrow, white to cream color.

Credit: James Lindsey
Source: Wikimedia Commons, via James Lindsey's Ecology of Commanster Site (CC-by-sa-2.5)
Sporeprint: white.
Spores: subglobose to globose, with droplets, smooth, thin-walled, nonamyloid, 5-7 x 5-6.5 µm.
Odor: not distinctive.
Taste: not distinctive.
Edibility: Arora (and most others, prior to 2004) lists them as edible, although he writes "… but in my humble fungal opinion, bland and insubstantial." The mushroom had no reported cases of toxicity until August 2004, when the mushroom was known to have caused encepalopathy in patients with chronic kidney diseases in northern Japan (Gejyo et al., 2005; Kato et al., 2004; Nomoto et al., 2007). Experiments additionally showed that hot water extracts, administered intraperitoneally, were toxic to nephrotic mice (strains C57BL/6N and C57BL/6J) (Takano et al., 2005), and that the toxic agents may have been vitamin D-like compounds interfering with calcium metabolism (Sasaki et al., 2006).
Habitat: found as overlapping clusters on decaying coniferous wood, especially pine; later summer and fall.

Based on analysis of genetic relationships and ITS sequences, there are at least two genetically different populations of P. porrigens in Japan (Matsumoto et al., 2005).

Bioactive compounds

The unusual long-chain fatty acid, α-eleostearic acid, appears to be a characteristic fatty acid of P. porrigens.  Other free long-chain fatty acids detected by HPLC were oleic acid, and common saturated long-chain fatty acids such as linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid (Amakura et al., 2006a).

Long-chain fatty acid with a conjugated triene moiety α-eleostearic acid (aka (9E,11E,13Z)- octadeca-9,11,13- trienoic acid).

Other conjugated long-chain fatty acids isolated from this mushroom include (14RS)-(10E,12E)- 14-hydroxy-9-oxo- 10,12-octadecadienoic acid, (12RS)-(8E,10E)- 12-hydroxy-7-oxo-8,10- octadecadienoic acid, (10E,12E)- 9,14-dioxo-10,12- octadecadienoic acid and (8E,10E)- 7,12-dioxo-8,10- octadecadienoic acid (ostopanic acid) (Amakura et al., 2006b).

The novel conjugated ketonic fatty acid, named porrigenic acid (shown below), was isolated as a cytotoxic constituent of P. porrigens. Porrigenic acid was cytotoxic against human myeloma THP-1 cells (IC₅₀ value of 46.5 µg/ml), but did not show any significant toxicity against mouse B16F1 melanoma (Hasegawa et al., 2007).

The conjugated ketonic fatty acid, porrigenic acid (full name (S)-(10E,12E)-14-hydroxy-9-oxo-10,12-octadecadienoic acid).

The amino acid derivative β-hydroxy-L-valine has been isolated from fruiting bodies of P. porrigens (Aoyagi and Sugahara, 1988).

Lectins

Extracts from P. porrigens hemagglutinated human red blood cells, and this was shown to caused by anti-H-like agglutinins (Furukawa et al., 1995).

Medicinal properties
Antitumor effects

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of P. porrigens 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).

Links

• www.hlasek.com has pictures,  while the Fungi on Wood site has pictures and description

References

Amakura Y, Kondo K, Akiyama H, Ito H, Hatano T, Yoshida T, Maitani T.
Characteristic long-chain fatty acids of Pleurocybella porrigens.
Shokuhin Eiseigaku Zasshi. 2006a 47(4):178-81.

Amakura Y, Kondo K, Akiyama H, Ito H, Hatano T, Yoshida T, Maitani T.
Conjugated ketonic fatty acids from Pleurocybella porrigens.
Chem Pharm Bull. 2006b 54(8):1213-5.

Aoyagi Y, Sugahara T.
β-Hydroxy-L-valine from Pleurocybella porrigens.
Phytochem. 1988 27(10):3306-7.

Arora D. (1990).
Mushrooms demystified. (2nd ed.)
Berkeley: Ten speed press. (959 pp)

Furukawa K, Ying R, Nakajima T, Matsuki T.
Hemagglutinins in fungus extracts and their blood group specificity.
Exper Clin Immunogen. 1995 12(4):223-31.

Gejyo F, Homma N, Higuchi N, Ataka K, Teramura T, Alchi B, Suzuki Y, Nishi S, Narita I.
A novel type of encephalopathy associated with mushroom Sugihiratake ingestion in patients with chronic kidney diseases.
Kidney Int. 2005 68(1):188-92.

Hasegawa T, Ishibashi M, Takata T, Takano F, Ohta T.
Cytotoxic fatty acid from Pleurocybella porrigens.
Chem Pharm Bull. 2007 55(12):1748-9.

Kato T, Kawanami T, Shimizu H, Kurokawa K, Sato H, Nakajima K, Nomoto T, Seta T, Kamei T, Yoshino H, Sasagawa I, Ito M, Karasawa S, Kimura H, Suzuki Y, Degawa N, Tagawa A, Ataka K, Ando S, Omae T, Shikama Y.
An outbreak of encephalopathy after eating autumn mushroom (Sugihiratake; Pleurocybella porrigens) in patients with renal failure : A clinical analysis of ten cases in Yamagata, Japan.
Brain and Nerve (Tokyo). 2004 56(12):999-1007.

Matsumoto T, Nagasawa E, Fukumasa-Nakai Y.
Variation of ITS sequences in a natural Japanese population of Pleurocybella porrigens.
Mycoscience. 2005 46(6):370-5.

Nomoto T, Seta T, Nomura K, Shikama Y, Katagiri T, Katsura K-i, Kato T, Katayama Y.
A case of reversible encephalopathy accompanied by demyelination occurring after ingestion of sugihiratake mushrooms.
Nippon Ika Daigaku Zasshi. Journal of the Nippon Medical School (Tokyo) 2007 74(3):261-4.

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.

Sasaki H, Akiyama H, Yoshida Y, Kondo K, Amakura Y, Kasahara Y, Maitani T.
Sugihiratake mushroom (Angel's Wing Mushroom)-induced cryptogenic encephalopathy may involve vitamin D analogues.
Biol Pharm Bull. 2006 29(12):2514-8.

Singer R.
New Genera of Fungi. III
Mycologia. 1947  39(1):77-89.

Takano F, Yamaguchi M, Shoda S, Fu Z-D, Ohta T.
Toxicological studies on hot water extracts of Pleurocybella porrigens (Pers.:Fr.) in mice.
Nat Med. 2005 59(4):151-6.

Toyoshima I, Obara K, Watanabe S, Sato S, Gonmori K.
Striatal necrosis and cerebral cortical lesion in acute encephalopathy related to mushroom, Pleurocybella porrigens.
J Neuro Sci. 2005 238(Suppl. 1):S181.

Last modified: 23-Aug-2008

The bay bolete, Boletus badius (Fr.) Fr.
Credit: Jean-Pol Grandmont
Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC-by-sa-3.0)

Classification

Kingdom Fungi
Phylum Basidiomycota
Class Basidiomycetes
Order Boletales
Family Boletaceae
Genus Boletus

Boletus castaneus ß badius Fr.
  Observ. mycol. (Havniae) 2: 247 (1818)
Ixocomus badius (Fr.) Quél.
  Fl. Mycol. France (Paris): 412 (1888)
Suillus badius (Fr.)
  Kuntze, 3(2) (1898)
Xerocomus badius (Fr.) Kühner

Bay bolete
Brunstokket rorhat/Svartbrun rorsopp (Danish)
Ruskotatti (Finnish)
Bolet bai (French)
Kastanjeboleet (Dutch)
Barna tinorú (Hungarian)
Maronenröhrling (German)
Podgrzybek brunatny (Polish)
Suchohríb hnedý (Slovak)
Suchohřib hnědý modrák (Czech)
Boleto bayo (Spanish)
Brunsopp (Swedish)
Польский гриб (Russian)

Cap: 4-15 cm broad; bay- to dark brick-color later flushed ochraceous brown, initially downy, becoming smooth and polished, slightly viscid in wet weather.
Stem: 4–12 cm tall x 1–4 cm diameter, concolorous with cap or paler, surface slightly cottony, more or less equal.
Flesh: white to lemon-yellow on cutting becoming faintly blue particularly in stem apex and above tubes, vinaceous in cap. Taste and smell mild and mushroomy.
Tubes: cream to lemon-yellow, bruising bluish green. Pores large, readily bruising blue-green.
Spore print: oliveaceous brown.
Spores: smooth, thick-walled, subfusiform, 13–15 x 4.0–6.0µ.
Odor and taste: not distinctive.
Edibility: edible, and less prone to maggot infestation than other boletes. Be aware that one paper reported an allergic reaction caused by the consumption of this species (Bennink and de Vries, 2007).
Habitat: in mixed woods, found in late summer and autumn. Found in America and Europe.

Illustration by Albin Schmalfuß, 1897
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bioactive compounds
Polysaccharides

Two polysaccharide fractions have been isolated from B. badius fruit bodies: polysaccharide fraction A (dry weight yield of 0.41%) and polysaccharide fraction B (dry weight yield of  0.89%). Fraction A was composed of glucose, while fraction B contained mainly glucose and mannose. Biological activity testing using the Allium test showed that fraction A exhibited a mitostatic action at a concentration of 0.5%, while fraction B showed such activity at 0.5% and 0.25% concentrations after 24 h and 48 h. Polysaccharide fraction B had a direct influence on cell division in the Tetrahymena test (Wegiel et al., 2001).

L-theanine (N-ethyl-γ-glutamine or γ-glutamylethylamide, shown below) is a non-protein forming amino acid that occurs in the bay bolete (Casimir et al., 1960).

A number of studies have recently investigated the physiological and pharmacological potential of this rare amino acid, associated most commonly with tea leaves (Camellia sinensis). These studies suggest that theanine may be useful for the following:

- promoting relaxation (Lu et al., 2004)
- reducing blood pressure (Yokogoshi et al., 1995)
- inhibiting the negative effects of caffeine (Kakuda et al., 2000)
- enhancing anti-tumor activity (Sadzuka et al., 2000)
- providing neuroprotective effects (Egashira et al., 2004)
- providing anti-obesity effects (Zheng et al., 2004)

A Chinese study has demonstrated a promising method for producing theanine by using submerged fermentation of B. badius mycelium and response surface methodology (Li et al., 2008).

Medicinal properties
Antioxidant activity/FRSA

The methanolic extract of dried Boletus badius was analyzed for antioxidant activity in different systems including reducing power, free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, total antioxidant activity, and metal chelating activities. The percentage inhibition of the methanolic extract of dried B. badius at 100 µg/mL concentrations on peroxidation in the linoleic acid system was 99.2%, and greater than 400 µg/mL of α-tocopherol, BHA and BHT (77%, 85%, and 97%, respectively). The methanolic extract from B. badius was better at scavenging O˙₂ than a variety of other mushroom species. The scavenging effects of the methanolic extracts from the bay bolete was 68.7 (compare with 97.4 and 95.4 for BHA and α-tocopherol, respectively). The metal scavenging effect of the methanolic extract of B. badius was 77.6% (superior than BHA, α-tocopherol, and BHT - 47.8%, 45.7% and 68.5%, repectively). α-Tocopherol was found in the bay bolete, at a concentration of 8.88±0.12 mg/g. Also, B. badius had a relatively high content of total polyphenolics (Elmastas et al., 2006).

Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of B. badius 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% and 70%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).

The effects of water and ethanol extracts of Boletus edulis on the impulse activity of 45 neurons recorded from the hippocampal stratum pyramidale (CA1 region) were studied.  B. edulis clearly inhibited the impulse activity (Moldovan et al., 2001).

Links

• Mushroom Expert
• Roger's Mushrooms
• many pictures available at Wikimedia Commons

References

Bennink A, de Vries B.
Allergic to Boletes.
Coolia. 2007 50(1):47-8.

Casimir J, Jadot J, Renard M.
[Separation and characterization of N-ethyl-γ-glutamine from Xerocomus badius.]
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1960 39:462-8. French. No abstract available.

Egashira N, Hayakawa K, Mishima K, Kimura H, Iwasaki K, Fujiwara M.
Neuroprotective effect of γ-glutamylethylamide (theanine) on cerebral infarction in mice.
Neurosci Lett. 2004 363:58–61.

Elmastas M, Isildak O, Turkekul I, Temur N.
Determination of antioxidant activity and antioxidant compounds in wild edible mushrooms.
J Food Comp Anal. 2007 20 (3-4):337-45.

Grzybek J.
Polysaccharides from fruiting bodies of Xerocomus badius and their mitotic activity in the Allium test.
Meeting Information: 41st Annual Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plant Research Duesseldorf, Germany
Planta Medica. 1993 59(7 SUPPL):A674.

Kakuda T, Nozawa A, Unno T, Okamura N, Okai O.
Inhibiting effects of theanine on caffeine stimulation evaluated by EEG in the rat.
Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2000 64(2):287–293.

Li J, Li P, Liu F.
Production of theanine by Xerocomus badius (mushroom) using submerged fermentation.
LWT-Food Sci Technol. 2008 41(5):883-9.

Lu K, Gray MA, Oliver C, Liley DT, Harrison BJ, Bartholomeusz CF, Phan KL, Nathan PJ.
The acute effects of L-theanine in comparison with alprazolam on anticipatory anxiety in humans.
Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp. 2004 19(7):457–65.

Moldavan MG, Grodzynska GA, Wasser SP, Storozhuk VM.
Effects of some higher Basidiomycetes extracts on the neurons activity.
Ukrayins'kyi Botanichnyi Zhurnal. 2001 58(2):220-8.

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.

Sadzuka Y, Sugiyama T,  Sonobe T.
Improvement of idarubicin induced antitumor activity and bone marrow suppression by theanine, a component of tea.
Canc Lett. 2000 158(2):119–124.

Steffan B, Steglich W.
Fungal pigments .44. Pigments from the cap cuticle of the Bay Boletus (Xerocomus badius).
Angew Chem. 1984 23(6):445-7.

Wegiel J, Konska G, Guillot J, Muszynska B, Bohatier J, Kohlmunzer S.
Isolation and antimitotic activity of polysaccharides from fruit bodies of Xerocomus badius (Fr.) Kuhn. ex Gilib.
Acta Biol Cracov Bot. 2001 43:59-64.

Yokogoshi H, Kato Y, Sagesaka YM, Takihara-Matsuura T, Kakuda T, Takeuchi N.
Reduction effect of theanine on blood pressure and brain 5-hydroxyindoles in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1995 59(4):615–618.

Zheng G, Sayama K, Okubo T, Juneja LR, Oguni I.
Anti-obesity effects of three major components of green tea, catechins, caffeine and theanine, in mice.
In vivo. 2004 18(1):55–62.

Last modified: 22-Sept-2008