Panus similis Berk. & Br.

Wijayawardene, Nalin N., Dissanayake, Lakmali S., Li, Qi-Rui, Dai, Dong-Qi, Xiao, Yuanpin, Wen, Ting-Chi, Karunarathna, Samantha C., Wu, Hai-Xia, Zhang, Huang, Tibpromma, Saowaluck, Kang, Ji-Chuan, Wang, Yong, Shen, Xiang- Chun, Tang, Li-Zhou, Deng, Chun-Ying, Liu, Yanxia & Kang, Yingqian, 2021, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau: a mycological hotspot, Phytotaxa 523 (1), pp. 1-31 : 17

Panus similis Berk. & Br.

In Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. 14:43 (1873)

( FIGURES 10 , 11 )

Pileus (4.9B) 4–16 cm diameter, thin, deeply infundibuliform; surface brown to dark chestnut brown, finely velutinate at the centre, radially plicate-sulcate with the striae extending almost to the centre, margin curved downwards, ciliate. Lamellae decurrent, ochraceous buff, darkening at maturity, 1.5–3 mm broad, moderately spaced with lamellulae of five lengths; entire edge. Stipe central, 4–17 cm × 1.5–2 mm, solid, cylindric, slightly expanded at the base; surface concolorous with the pileus, uniformly velutinate and felt-like. Context 1–2 mm thick at the centre, coriaceous, white. Generative hyphae (4.7E) 2–4 μm diameter, very thin-walled, frequently branching with clamp connections. Skeletal hyphae (4.7E) 2–5 μm diameter, cylindric, sinuous with a thickened hyaline wall, unbranched. Basidiospores (4.7A) (5.5–6.5 × 2.5–3.5 (5.5 ± 0.3 × 3 ± 0.2) μm, Q =1.83, hyaline, ellipsoid to oblong cylindric, thin-walled, with few contents. Basidia 17–29 × 4–5 μm, clavate, cylindric, bearing 4 sterigmata. Lamella-edge sterile, with small Cheilocystidia, soon collapsing. Cheilocystidia crowded, 17–26 × 3–6 μm, nodulose-clavate, hyaline, irregular, thinwalled. Sclerocystidia (4.7D) very abundant, very crowded, 19–41 × 4–9 μm, irregularly fusoid, elongate, with a thick, hyaline wall. Hymenophoral trama irregular of radiate construction, hyaline. Subhymenial layer slightly developed. Pileipellis on epicutis, up to 115 μm thick, of more or less repent hyaline, up to 160 μm long, 115 μm diameter, with a thickened wall of 1.5–3.5 μm. Stipitipellis similar to Pileipellis. Smell mushroomy, edible when it is young.

Material examined:— CHINA, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna, elevation 400 m, rainforest dominated by Castanopsis sp. and Dipterocarpus sp.; 4 June 2018, Samantha C. Karunarathna ( HKAS 121668 ) (new country record).

Notes: Panus similis has a palaeotropical Distribution and is most commonly found in south-east Asia and Australasia, but also extends westwards across equatorial Africa. It is recognized by the excellently velutinate to glabrescent pileus with noticeable radially sulcate striate, combined with the subdistant lamellae. Large basidiocarps are frequently encountered almost always associated with a prominent pseudosclerotium. This study reports P. similis for the first time from China, based on both morphological characteristics ( Figs. 10 , 11 ) and phylogenetic analysis ( Fig. 12 ).

Figures

FIGURE 0. Panus similis a. Basidiospores, b. Basidia, c. Cheilocystidia, d. Sclerocystidia, e. Generative hyphae and Skeletal Hyphae, f. Hairs on pileus. Scale bars: b, c, d = 20 µm; a, e, f = 10 µm

FIGURE. Basidiocarps of Panus similis (HKAS 121668) in the field.

FIGURE. Phylogram of Panus generated from Maximum likelihood analysis of ITS sequence data. Lentinus crinitus (MK408650) was selected as the outgroup taxon. Maximum likelihood bootstrap values greater than 60% are indicated above the nodes. The new record Panus similis (HKAS 121668) is in black bold.