GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

GROWTH PARAMETERS 371
form. Microscopically, the spores of G. umbellata are substantially larger and more cylindrically
shaped than the spores of G. frondosa.
Description: A large, fleshy polypore, dark gray brown when young, becoming lighter gray in age.
(Some varieties fade to a light yellow at maturity.) Fruitbody is composed of multiple, overlapping
caps, 2-10 cm. in diameter, arising from branching stems, eccentrically attached, and sharing a common
base. Young fruitbodies are adorned with fine gray fibrils. The pores on the underside of the caps
are white.
Distribution: Growing in northern temperate, deciduous forests. In North America, primarily found in
Eastern Canada and throughout the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states. Rarely found in the northwestern
and in the southeastern United States. Also indigenous to the Northeastern regions of Japan, the temperate
hardwood regions of China, and Europe where it was first discovered.
Natural Habitat: Found on stumps or at the base of dead or dying deciduous hardwoods, especially
oaks, elms, maples, blackgum, beech, and occasionally on larch. According to Gilbertson &
Ryvarden (1986), this mushroom has also been collected on pines (Douglas fir), although rarely so.
G. frondosa is a "white rot" fungus. Although found at the bases of dying trees, most mycologists
view this mushroom as a saprophyte, exploiting tree tissue dying from other causes.
Microscopic Features: Spores white, slightly elliptical (egg-shaped), smooth, hyaline, 6-7 x 3.5-5
Hyphal system dimitic, clamp connections present in the generative hyphae, infrequently branching
with skeletal, non-septate hyphae.
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