Laetiporus portentosus

Laetiporus portentosus
In Attunga State Forest, New South Wales, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Polyporales
Family: Fomitopsidaceae
Genus: Laetiporus
Species: L. portentosus
Binomial name
Laetiporus portentosus
(Berk.) Rajchenb. (1995)

Laetiporus portentosus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in South America, Australia, and New Zealand. It has been used traditionally as a tinder and to carry fire by Australian Aboriginals,[1] and by New Zealand Māori people. The Māori have also used it as a "wound protector, to soften and ease a difficult labor."[2]

Taxonomy

The fungus was first described in 1844 by English mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley. Mario Rajchenberg transferred it to the genus Laetiporus in 1995.[3] The fungus has acquired an extensive synonymy in the interim:[4]

References

  1. Cunningham A, Xeufei Y (2012). Mushrooms in Forests and Woodlands: "Resource Management, Values and Local Livelihoods". Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-136-53817-9.
  2. Fuller R, Buchanan P, Roberts M (2005). "Medicinal uses of fungi by New Zealand Maori people". International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms. 7 (3): 402. doi:10.1615/IntJMedMushrooms.v7.i3.470.
  3. Rajchenberg M. (1995). "A taxonomic study of the Subantarctic Piptoporus (Polyporaceae, Basidiomycetes) II". Nordic Journal of Botany. 15 (1): 105–119. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1995.tb00127.x.
  4. "GSD Species Synonymy: Laetiporus portentosus (Berk.) Rajchenb.". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.