Elder Whitewash

Description:

Hyphodontia sambuci or Elder Whitewash is a basidiomycete fungal pathogen on deadwood, especially elder. -----It is resupinate, forming a very thin structure which is white, pruinose (flour-like dusting) or chalky in appearance. It is inedible. It also grows on dead but still hanging branches of Fraxinus, Berberis, Nothofagus, Ulmus, Populus, Hedera, Ribes, Symphoricarpus and rarely on conifers such as Cryptomeria ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphodontia... )

Habitat:

location: Europe edibility: Inedible fungus colour: White to cream normal size: 5-15cm cap type: Other flesh: Flesh granular or brittle spore colour: White, cream or yellowish habitat: Grows on wood Hyphodontia sambuci (Pers.) Erikss. syn. Thelephora sambuci Pers. syn. Hyphoderma sambuci (Pers.) Jülich. Elder Whitewash. Fruit body resupinate, very thin, mealy, pruinose or chalky, white. Cystidioles narrowly fusoid, often capitate at apex. Spores ellipsoid, 4.5–6 x 3.5–4um. Habitat on deciduous wood, especially elder. Season all year, especially autumn to winter. Very common. Not edible. Found In Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

As stated, H. sambuci occurs in North Europe mostly on Sambucus nigra, but there is a much bigger spectrum of substrates in warmer regions in southern areas. The variability of micromorphology increases in the tropics, but the macromorphological characteristics however always stay the same: the basidiocarp with chalky white color and often growing as aerophyte on dead branches of trees and bushes, that are still attached to the tree. H. sambuci consists of a complex of species. Similar species with capitate cystidia ; thin-walled hyphae and exactly the same chalky white fruit body are H. griselinae and H. fimbriata. The can be differentiated by their spores and morphology of their basidiocarp (wikipedia) ( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Li... ),