Common Split Gill - Schizophyllum commune
Common Split Gill - Schizophyllum commune - is perhaps the most widespread fungus in the world.
The cap is 1-4.5 centimeters wide and usually a shell or fan shape with a gray to whitish surface. Dry and covered by thin fine hairs, the flesh is thin and leathery. Underneath the cap are gill-like folds that are split lengthwise and many times serrated or torn. The gill produce basidospores, and the reason they appear to be split is because they often dry out and rehydrate many times throughout the growing season. This causes opening and closing of the split gills. The fruiting bodies that are produced each year because it is able to dry and rehydrate. Sporulating fruiting bodies can even be found in the middle of winter. Stalk is usually absent or very short. Fruiting can be solitary or in clusters on decaying hardwoods throughout the world. This fungus uses enzymes to decay the lignin in the wood causing “white rot”. This is because the cellulose left behind on the decaying wood is white. Non-edible for most, but often eaten in Malaysia and Burma.
Schizophyllum commune is easily recognized. Its tiny fruiting bodies lack stems, and they attach themselves like tiny bracket fungi on the dead wood of deciduous trees. Unlike a bracket fungus, however, Schizophyllum commune has what appear to be gills on its underside, rather than pores or a simple, flat surface. On close inspection the "gills" turn out to be merely folds in the undersurface--and they are very distinctively "split" or "doubled."
It is known that there is a single widespread species of Schizophyllum commune because worldwide samples of the fungus were able to produce fertile offspring with each other as long as they were different mating types. This was shown by John Raper at Harvard University in the 1950s.
The species name "commune" actually does refer to shared ownership, in an odd way; Schizophyllum commune is one of the most widely distributed and common mushrooms on the planet. Not only is it found from sea to shining sea on our continent, it is found on all six of the others. As a result of its omnipresence, it is also one of the most studied mushrooms on earth.
There have been rare cases of this fungus causing a human mycosis in immunodeficient children. Fruiting bodies were actually formed through the soft palate of a child’s mouth in one case.
Common Split Gill - Schizophyllum commune
Common Split Gill - Schizophyllum commune - is perhaps the most widespread fungus in the world.
The cap is 1-4.5 centimeters wide and usually a shell or fan shape with a gray to whitish surface. Dry and covered by thin fine hairs, the flesh is thin and leathery. Underneath the cap are gill-like folds that are split lengthwise and many times serrated or torn. The gill produce basidospores, and the reason they appear to be split is because they often dry out and rehydrate many times throughout the growing season. This causes opening and closing of the split gills. The fruiting bodies that are produced each year because it is able to dry and rehydrate. Sporulating fruiting bodies can even be found in the middle of winter. Stalk is usually absent or very short. Fruiting can be solitary or in clusters on decaying hardwoods throughout the world. This fungus uses enzymes to decay the lignin in the wood causing “white rot”. This is because the cellulose left behind on the decaying wood is white. Non-edible for most, but often eaten in Malaysia and Burma.
Schizophyllum commune is easily recognized. Its tiny fruiting bodies lack stems, and they attach themselves like tiny bracket fungi on the dead wood of deciduous trees. Unlike a bracket fungus, however, Schizophyllum commune has what appear to be gills on its underside, rather than pores or a simple, flat surface. On close inspection the "gills" turn out to be merely folds in the undersurface--and they are very distinctively "split" or "doubled."
It is known that there is a single widespread species of Schizophyllum commune because worldwide samples of the fungus were able to produce fertile offspring with each other as long as they were different mating types. This was shown by John Raper at Harvard University in the 1950s.
The species name "commune" actually does refer to shared ownership, in an odd way; Schizophyllum commune is one of the most widely distributed and common mushrooms on the planet. Not only is it found from sea to shining sea on our continent, it is found on all six of the others. As a result of its omnipresence, it is also one of the most studied mushrooms on earth.
There have been rare cases of this fungus causing a human mycosis in immunodeficient children. Fruiting bodies were actually formed through the soft palate of a child’s mouth in one case.