Rigidoporus ulmarius

Rigidoporus ulmarius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Phylum:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Basidiomycetes
Subclass:	Agaricomycetidae
Order:	Polyporales
Family:	Meripilaceae
Genus:	Rigidoporus
Species:	R. ulmarius
Binomial name
Rigidoporus ulmarius (Sowerby) Imazeki, (1952)
Synonyms
Boletus ulmarius Sowerby, (1797) Coriolus actinobolus (Mont.) Pat., (1903) Fomes geotropus (Cooke) Cooke, (1885) Fomes ulmarius Fr., (1874) Fomes ulmarius (Sowerby) Gillet,(1878) Fomitopsis ulmaria (Sowerby) Bondartsev & Singer, (1941) Haploporus cytisinus (Berk.) Domanski, (1973) Leucofomes ulmarius (Sowerby) Kotl. & Pouzar, (1957) Mensularia ulmaria (Sowerby) Lázaro Ibiza, (1916) Microporus actinobolus (Mont.) Kuntze, (1898) Placodes incanus Quél., (1886) Placodes ulmarius (Sowerby) Quél., (1886) Polyporus actinobolus Mont., (1854) Polyporus cytisinus Berk., (1836) Polyporus fraxineus Lloyd, (1915) Polyporus geotropus Cooke, (1884) Polyporus sublinguaeformis Schulzer, (1882) Polyporus ulmarius (Sowerby) Fr., (1821) Polystictus actinobolus (Mont.) Cooke, (1886) Rigidoporus geotropus (Cooke) Dhanda, (1981) Rigidoporus geotropus (Cooke) Imazeki, (1955) Scindalma cytisinum (Berk.) Kuntze, (1898) Scindalma geotropum (Cooke) Kuntze, (1898) Scindalma ulmarium (Sowerby) Kuntze, (1898) Ungulina cytisina (Berk.) Murashk., (1940) Ungulina incana (Quél.) Pat.,2 (1900) Ungulina ulmaria (Sowerby) Pat., (1900)

Rigidoporus ulmarius is a plant pathogen found mainly on broad-leaved trees. It used to be very common on elm.

The fruiting bodies are white, knobbly and relatively hard, requiring a fair amount of force to break. Older bodies may be covered with green algae, or partially covered with vegetation and leaves making them difficult to spot. They often encapsulate grass, twigs and other debris.^{[citation needed]}

Tubes are 1–5 mm long in each layer, pinkish to orange when young, browning with age, each layer separated by a thin contrasting band of white flesh. Pores 5–8 per millimeter, red-orange fading to clay-pink or buff with age. Spores pale yellow, globose, 6–7.5 µm in diameter. Hyphal structure monomitic; generative hyphae lacking clamps. Habitat at the base of trunks of deciduous trees, usually elm. Season all year, perennial. Common. Not edible. Found in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

A fruit body of R. ulmarius discovered in Kew Gardens in 2003 was, for a time, the largest known fungal fruit body ever discovered, measuring 150 by 133 centimetres (59 by 52 in) in diameter, and had a circumference of 425 centimetres (167 in). However, in 2011, a specimen of Fomitiporia ellipsoidea significantly larger was discovered in China.^[1]

External links

• Index Fungorum
• USDA ARS Fungal Database

References

1. ^ Dai, Yu-Cheng; Cui, Bao-Kai (2011). "Fomitiporia ellipsoidea has the largest fruiting body among the fungi". Fungal Biology (in press): 1–2. doi:10.1016/j.funbio.2011.06.008. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878614611001139.