Bjerkandera adusta

Bjerkandera adusta

The smoky polypore (Bjerkandera adusta (Willd.) P.Karst. 1880) is a mushroom belonging to the Meruliaceae family.

Systematic –
From a systematic point of view it belongs to:
Eukaryota domain,
Fungi Kingdom,
Phylum Basidiomycota,
Class Agaricomycetes,
Order Polyporales,
Meruliaceae family,
Genus Bjerkandera,
Species B. adusta.
The term is basonym:
– Boletus adustus Willd..
The terms are synonymous:
– Agaricus crispus (Pers.) E.H.L.Krause;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. carpinea (Sowerby) Donk;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. resupinata (Bourdot & Galzin) Domański, Orloś & Skirg.;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. resupinata Anon.;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. solubilis (Velen.) Bondartsev;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. tegumentosa (Velen.) Bondartsev;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. zonatula (Quél.) Domański, Orloś & Skirg.;
– Bjerkandera adusta subsp. resupinata (Bourdot & Galzin) Domanski, Orlos & Skirg., 1967;
– Bjerkandera adusta subsp. solubilis (Velen.) Bondartsev, 1953;
– Bjerkandera adusta subsp. tegumentosa (Velen.) Bondartsev, 1953;
– Bjerkandera adusta var. crispa (Pers.) Lécuru;
– Bjerkandera adusta var. crispus (Pers.) Anon.;
– Bjerkandera isabellina (Schwein.) P.Karst.;
– Bjerkandera scanica (Fr.) P.Karst.;
– Boletus adustus subsp. crispus (Pers.) Pers., 1801;
– Boletus adustus var. crispus (Pers.) Pers.;
– Boletus carpineus Sow. ex S.F.Gray;
– Boletus carpineus Sowerby;
– Boletus concentricus Schumach.;
– Boletus crispus Pers.;
– Boletus fuscoporus J.J.Planer;
– Boletus isabellinus Schwein.;
– Boletus pelleporus Bull.;
– Boletus pelloporus Bull. ex Merat;
– Ceriporiopsis niger Ryvarden;
– Coriolellus serialis f. resupinatus Anon.;
– Coriolus alabamensis Murrill;
– Daedalea fennica (P.Karst.) P.Karst.;
– Daedalea oudemansii subsp. fennica P.Karst., 1882;
– Daedalea oudemansii var. fennica P.Karst.;
– Daedalea solubilis Velen.;
– Geotrichopsis mycoparasitica Tzean & Estey;
– Gloeoporus adustus (Willd.) Gillot & Luc;
– Gloeoporus adustus (Willd.) Pilát;
– Gloeoporus adustus f. atropileus (Velen.) Pilát;
– Gloeoporus adustus f. excavatus (Velen.) Pilát;
– Gloeoporus adustus f. solubilis (Velen.) Pilát;
– Gloeoporus adustus f. tegumentosus (Velen.) Pilát;
– Gloeoporus adustus subsp. atropileus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937;
– Gloeoporus adustus subsp. excavatus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937;
– Gloeoporus adustus subsp. excavavatus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937;
– Gloeoporus adustus subsp. solubilis (Velen.) Pilát, 1937;
– Gloeoporus adustus subsp. tegumentosus (Velen.) Pilát, 1937;
– Gloeoporus crispus (Pers.) G.Cunn.;
– Grifola adusta (Willd.) Zmitr. & Malysheva;
– Leptoporus adustus (Sowerby) Bourdot & Galzin;
– Leptoporus adustus (Willd.) Quél.;
– Leptoporus adustus f. crispus (Pers.) Bourdot & Galzin;
– Leptoporus adustus f. resupinatus Bourdot & Galzin;
– Leptoporus adustus f. viridans Pilát;
– Leptoporus adustus f. zonatulus Quél.;
– Leptoporus adustus subsp. resupinatus Bourdot & Galzin, 1928;
– Leptoporus adustus var. crispus (Pers.) Quél.;
– Leptoporus albellus f. raduloides Pilát;
– Leptoporus crispus (Pers.) Quél.;
– Leptoporus nigrellus Pat.;
– Microporus gloeoporoides (Speg.) Kuntze;
– Microporus lindheimeri (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Kuntze;
– Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr.;
– Polyporus adustus f. resupinata Bres.;
– Polyporus adustus subsp. ater Velen., 1922;
– Polyporus adustus subsp. carpineus (Sowerby) Fr., 1874;
– Polyporus adustus subsp. resupinata Bres., 1922;
– Polyporus adustus var. ater Velen.;
– Polyporus adustus var. carpineus (Sowerby) Fr.;
– Polyporus adustus var. pelleporus (Bull.) Pers.;
– Polyporus adustus var. pelloporus (Bull.) Pers.;
– Polyporus amesii Lloyd;
– Polyporus amorphus var. halesiae (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Cooke;
– Polyporus atropileus Velen.;
– Polyporus burtii Peck;
– Polyporus carpineus (Sowerby) Fr.;
– Polyporus cinerascens Velen.;
– Polyporus crispus (Pers.) Fr.;
– Polyporus crispus f. resupinata Bres.;
– Polyporus curreyanus Berk.;
– Polyporus curreyanus Berk. ex Cooke;
– Polyporus digitalis Berk.;
– Polyporus dissitus Berk. & Broome;
– Polyporus excavatus Velen.;
– Polyporus fumosogriseus Cooke & Ellis;
– Polyporus halesiae Berk. & M.A.Curtis;
– Polyporus isabellinus (Schwein.) Steud.;
– Polyporus lindheimeri Berk. & M.A.Curtis;
– Polyporus macrosporus Britzelm.;
– Polyporus murinus Rostk.;
– Polyporus nidulans f. resupinata (Bourdot & Galzin) Anon.;
– Polyporus nigrellus (Pat.) Sacc. & D.Sacc.;
– Polyporus ochraceocinereus Britzelm.;
– Polyporus scanicus Fr.;
– Polyporus secernibilis Berk.;
– Polyporus solubilis Velen.;
– Polyporus subcinereus Berk.;
– Polyporus tegumentosus Velen.;
– Polyporus tristis Pers.;
– Polystictus adustus (Willd.) Gillot & Lucand;
– Polystictus alabamensis (Murrill) Sacc. & Trotter;
– Polystictus carpineus (Sowerby) Konrad;
– Polystictus gloeoporoides Speg.;
– Polystictus lindheimeri (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Cooke, 1886;
– Polystictus puberulus Bres.;
– Poria argentea Ehrenb.;
– Poria carnosa Rostr.;
– Poria carnosa Rostr. ex Sacc. & D.Sacc., 1905;
– Poria curreyana (Berk. ex Cooke) G.Cunn.;
– Poria luteogrisea Bond.;
– Trametes tristis Roum.;
– Tyromyces adustus (Willd.) Pouzar.
The following forms are recognized within this species:
– Bjerkandera adusta f. adusta;
– Bjerkandera adusta f. cinerata (P.Karst.) Bondartzew.

Etymology –
The term Bjerkandera is in honor of the Swedish naturalist Clas Bjerkander (1735-1795).
The specific epithet adusta comes from adure to burn, to toast: due to the brown color of the poroid surface.

Geographic Distribution and Habitat –
Bjerkandera adusta is a species of mushroom widespread mainly in South America, Asia and Europe, but has also been found in North America.
Its favorite growth habitat is that of dead broad-leaved wood, but more rarely it also occurs on needle-leaved wood.

Recognition –
Bjerkandera adusta is a mushroom characterized by a cap with annual asidiomas, bracketed, imbricated and laterally fused, which sometimes cover large areas on the trunks; the single fruiting body ranges from 3 to 7 cm, the pileic surface, when present, is finely velvety, with concentric brown zoning with wavy margins, initially whitish, especially in the resupinate forms, then dark grey.
The stem is absent.
The hymenium is poroid, from gray to blackish, with 4-6 pores per mm, rounded, stretched and irregular in the more vertically grown forms; tubules 1-2 mm thick, smoky grey, separated from the context by a thin black line.
The meat is thin, from a few millimeters up to a maximum of 10 mm, with a leathery-elastic consistency. The color ranges from whitish to light ocher.
The smell is very intense and pleasant in fresh specimens, it disappears if the mushroom is dried.
Under the microscope, a monomitic hyphal structure is observed with generating hyphae equipped with buckle joints and branched, thin-walled, with a diameter of 2-4 µm in the subhymenium.
In the context the walls are thickened or solid with a diameter of up to 7 µm with an irregular pattern.
The pileal hyphae are gathered into cords that reach a length of over 100 µm.
The basidiospores are ellipsoidal, smooth, hyaline, non-amyloid, 4-6 × 2.3-3.5 µm.
The basidia are clavate, with buckle joints at the base, 10-18 × 3.5-6 µm.

Cultivation –
Bjerkandera adusta is a fairly widespread fungus in Europe, North America and also in Asia, both in woods and in parks or gardens, on dead broad-leaved wood, more rarely on needle-leaf, and causes white wood decay. .
It is a rather slow-growing parasitic fungus, once established in the plant it causes its death and continues to develop on it as a saprotroph.
It is not a cultivated mushroom.
However, because this mushroom produces enzymes that can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as those used in synthetic textile dyes, there has been research interest in studying the mushroom for possible use as a bioremedy.

Customs and Traditions –
Bjerkandera adusta is a mushroom that was first scientifically described as Boletus adustus by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1787.
This mushroom has no food value.
It can be confused with Trametes versicolor with which it shares the habitat, and Bjerkandera fumosa.
Another possible confusion could be with Bjerkandera fumosa (Persoon: Fries) Karsten 1879, which however is much less widespread, at least in Italy; it differs in the darker color of the carpophore, the slightly smaller spores, the whitish to cream poroid surface and the slightly larger pores, the habitat is only on broad-leaved plants.
Bjerkandera adusta, as mentioned, produces enzymes capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as those used in synthetic textile dyes. Research into these lignin-degrading enzymes produced by this mushroom, such as versatile peroxidase, have also been shown in studies to be capable of decolorizing synthetic melanin. This feature could allow Bjerkandera adusta to be used for melanin decolorization in future cosmetic applications.

Preparation Method –
Bjerkandera adusta is a mushroom that has no food value while it could find applications for various uses in industry and as a bioremedy.

Guido Bissanti

Sources
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
– Cetto B., 2008. Mushrooms from life, Saturnia, Trento.
– Pignatti S., 1982. Flora d’Italia, Edagricole, Bologna.
– Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. (ed.), 2005. An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora, Palombi Editore.

Photo source:
– https://observation.org/photos/62240433.jpg
– https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/110068364/original.jpg

Attention: Pharmaceutical applications and food uses are indicated for informational purposes only, they do not represent in any way a medical prescription; we therefore decline any responsibility for their use for healing, aesthetic or food purposes.