Bankera violascens (Alb. & Schwein.) Pouzar
no common name
Bankeraceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Bankeraceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include 1) a convex to depressed cap that is pale pinkish brown to pale purplish brown or pale grayish brown, 2) a sharp wavy cap margin that is sometimes cleft and lobed, 3) soft flesh that turns dark olive with KOH, 4) teeth on the underside of the cap that are white to pale gray and decurrent, 5) a cylindric to conic stem that is somewhat darker brown than the cap, 6) odor that may be like maple syrup when fresh and may be like Maggi when dry, and 7) white spore deposit. |Baird(3) has synonymized Bankera (of which this species is the type) with Phellodon, leading to the name Phellodon violascens. The latter was the current name listed in the online Species Fungorum and MycoBank, accessed August 2, 2020, but MycoBank, accessed the same date, listed Bankera fuligineoalba, the type of that genus, as the current name of Phellodon fuligineoalbus.
Chemical Reactions:
cap and flesh instantly dark olive-green with KOH (Bessette), KOH turns dried flesh pale olivaceous, (Harrison)
Odor:
faintly fragrant, strongly fragrant when dried, (Harrison), fragrant like maple syrup when fresh, soon disappearing after picking, (Bessette), pleasant, when dry intensely like Maggi, (Breitenbach)
Taste:
mild, (Harrison, Bessette, Breitenbach)
Microscopic:
spores 4-5.5 x 4-5 microns, nearly round, coarsely echinulate, colorless in KOH and Melzer''s reagent; basidia 35-40 x 4-4.5 microns; hyphae in cap 4-6 microns wide, interwoven, not clamped, (Harrison), spores 4.5-6 x 4-5 microns, nearly round, finely spiny, colorless, (Bessette), spores 4.5-5.5 x 4-4.5 microns, nearly round, with fine spines, colorless, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, cylindric-clavate, without basal clamp connection; hymenial cystidia not seen; hyphal system monomitic, subhymenial hyphae 2-9 microns wide, thin-walled, (Breitenbach)
Spore Deposit:
white (Harrison, Bessette)
Notes:
Bankera violascens has been reported from WA by Jumpponen(1), and is known from BC, OR, NB, NS, PQ, MI, and NM, (Harrison), NY (Banker), and also Europe.
EDIBILITY
unknown (Bessette)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Bankera fuligineoalba has a slightly larger cap, with a conspicuous layer of pine needles adhering to it, and does not become scaly (Bessette).Habitat
single, gregarious, to cespitose under conifers, (Harrison), single, scattered, or in groups on ground under conifers or in mixed woods, (Bessette), usually single, also gregarious and in groups, on soil in conifer forests under Picea (spruce), (at least in Europe), (Breitenbach)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Bankera carnosa (Banker) Snell, E.A. Dick, & Taussig
Hydnum carnosum (Banker) Trotter
Inonotus dryadeus (Pers.: Fr.) Murrill North Am. Flora
Phellodon carnosus Banker
Polyporus dryadeus Pers.