Laetiporus portentosus
| Laetiporus portentosus | |
|---|---|
| |
| In Attunga State Forest, New South Wales, Australia. These specimens have been thoroughly eaten by grubs till they look like hardened sponges. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| 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, found in South America, Australia, and in the North Island and northern South Island of New Zealand.[1]
Name[edit]
L. portentosus is known in Māori as pūtawa or pangu, and European settlers (Pākeha) called it "beech whiskers", "beech beard", or "morepork bread".[2] It was also referred to as "punk", a general term for any Polyporus fungus dried and used as tinder.[3]
Description[edit]
The fungus resembles a large white or yellowish sponge-like mass, with a light brown top and paler underside with visible pores.[2] Usually found several metres above ground, it grows 10–30 cm across and up to 6 cm thick.[1]
Ecology[edit]
In New Zealand this species in Māori tradition was associated with the small tree hutu (Ascarina lucida), so much so that it was known as ngā huruhuru o hutu waewae – "the hairs on the legs of hutu".[2] In New Zealand it is also found on southern beech (Nothofagus) trees.[3] The white-throated treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea) has been recorded feeding on this fungus in a heathy dry forest in Victoria.[4]
Taxonomy[edit]
The fungus was first described in 1844 by English mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley. Mario Rajchenberg transferred it to the genus Laetiporus in 1995, based on morphology, but in a 2008 molecular phylogeny L. portentosus fell well outside the core Laetiporus clade, suggesting Laetiporus is polyphyletic and more gene regions needed to be sequenced to resolve this.[5][6] The fungus has acquired an extensive synonymy in the interim:[7]
- Polyporus portentosus Berk. (1844)
- Ungulina portentosa (Berk.) Pat. (1906)
- Piptoporus portentosus (Berk.) G. Cunn. (1965)
- Polyporus eucalyptorum Fr. (1846)
- Ungulina eucalyptorum (Fr.) Pat. (1906)
- Piptoporus eucalyptorum (Fr.) Warcup (1986)
- Polyporus leucocreas Cooke (1879)
- Polyporus spermolepidis Pat. (1898)
- Ungulina spermolepidis (Pat.) Pat. (1906)
- Ungulina spermolepidis var. pandani Pat. (1906)
- Polyporus spermolepidis var. pandani (Pat.) Sacc. & Trotter (1912)
- Polyporus albofuscus Lloyd (1924)
- Durogaster albus Lloyd (1924)
Cultural uses[edit]
L. portentosus has been used traditionally as tinder and for carrying fire by both Australian Aboriginals[8] and New Zealand Māori people; when dried and set alight, the fungus will smoulder very slowly, and could be used as a reliable source of ignition.[3] Smouldering pieces were half-buried in the ground (where they would burn for a day or two), carried from place to place in ornately-carved tinderboxes, or placed atop a stick and used to light one's way when travelling at night.[2] Pākehā also used pūtawa as a fire starter, a substitute for touchpaper, carrying it around in cigarette tins; it was even sent with flint stones to New Zealand troops in both World Wars to help light cigarettes and pipes.[2]
Māori used pūtawa cut into absorbent strips and bandaged around wounds to protect them from pressure.[2] It was also possibly taken internally "to soften and ease a difficult labour."[3][9]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Sisson, Liv (2023). Fungi of Aotearoa: a curious forager's field guide. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books. pp. 270–271. ISBN 978-1-76104-787-9. OCLC 1372569849.
- ^ a b c d e f Vennell, Robert (2023). The Forgotten Forest. Auckland: HarperCollins. ISBN 9781775542193.
- ^ a b c d Riley, Murdoch (1994). Māori Healing and Herbal. Paraparaumu: Viking Sevenseas. pp. 383–384.
- ^ Maurer, C.N.; Maurer, G.; Reaney, L.T. (2017). "White-throated Treecreeper 'Cormobates leucophaea' feeding on bracket fungus". Australian Field Ornithology. 34: 10–11. doi:10.20938/afo34010011.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Lindner, Daniel L.; Banik, Mark T. (2008). "Molecular phylogeny of Laetiporus and other brown rot polypore genera in North America". Mycologia. 100 (3): 417–430. doi:10.3852/07-124R2. ISSN 0027-5514.
- ^ "GSD Species Synonymy: Laetiporus portentosus (Berk.) Rajchenb". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.