E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Pirex concentricus (Cooke & Ellis) Hjortstam & Ryvarden
no common name
Phanerochaetaceae

Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.

Introduction to the Macrofungi

© Rosemary Taylor  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #70803)

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Distribution of Pirex concentricus
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Species Information

Summary:
Features include 1) resupinate growth on wood, 2) a waxy, relatively thick fruitbody that is warm chrome yellow, with contrasting dark brown, loose-textured trama and subiculum next to the substrate (and inside the spines), the surface odontioid or hydnoid with conic or more commonly flattened spines, 3) a strong reddish reaction to KOH, 4) spores that are elliptic, smooth, and inamyloid, 5) clavate basidia, 6) no cystidia but protruding hyphoid elements sometimes present, and 7) a monomitic hyphal system, the hyphae with clamp connections.

Collections were seen from BC, WA, OR, and CA: in southern California it was very common and found in almost any oak forest with some dead logs on the ground, (Hallenberg). It has been found in BC, WA, OR, CA, and MT, (Ginns).
Fruiting body:
up to 0.5cm thick, resupinate, effused, adnate [firmly attached]; "sordid to chrome yellow or light brown when dry"; odontioid or hydnoid with conic or more commonly flattened aculei, usually 0.2-0.4cm long, often subporoid (now and then the pores arranged in concentric zones); trama and subiculum dark brown with a loose texture strongly in contrast to the yellow, waxy spore-bearing surface; strong reddish reaction to KOH in well-developed specimens (even when dried), (Hallenberg)
Microscopic:
SPORES (6)7-7.5(8.5) x 3-3.5(4) microns, elliptic or more commonly narrowly elliptic, "basally straight or slightly convex", smooth, inamyloid, acyanophilic, thin-walled, with oily inclusions; BASIDIA 40-50 x 5-6 microns, narrowly clavate, normally 4-spored and with a basal clamp connection; CYSTIDIA "lacking but sometimes protruding hyphoid elements are present" (also referred to as "hyphal elements (cystidioles)"); HYPHAE monomitic, with clamp connections; SUBHYMENIUM more or less dense, bright-colored, usually divided from trama by a darker line, hyphae nearly colorless or colorless, generally arranged vertically, 2.5-3.5(4) microns wide; SUBICULUM snuff-brown and conspicuous next to the substrate and in central part of aculei, consisting of loosely interwoven and moderately thick-walled hyphae, 3.5-4.5(5) microns wide, (Hallenberg)

Habitat / Range

noted from Quercus (oak), Alnus (alder), Vinca (periwinkle), (Hallenberg), Acer (maple), Alnus, Betula (birch), Corylus (hazel), Heteromeles arbutifolia (Christmasberry), Prunus, Pseudotsuga (Douglas-fir), Salix (willow), myrtle; associated with a white rot, (Ginns)

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Yuchengia narymica "(Pilat) B.K. Cui, C.L. Zhao &"

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Additional Photo Sources

Related Databases

Species References

Hallenberg(3), Ginns(5)

References for the fungi

General References