- Fungi Including Lichens
- ›Basidiomycete Fungi
- ›Higher Basidiomycetes
- ›Mushrooms, Bracket Fungi, Puffballs, and Allies
- ›Auriculariales
- ›Auriculariaceae
- ›Auricularia
- ›Auricularia cornea
Wood Ear mushroom
Auricularia polytricha
Auricularia nigricans is a species of fungus in the family Auriculariaceae. Basidiocarps (fruitbodies} are gelatinous, ear-like, and grow on dead wood of broadleaf trees. It is found in southern and eastern Asia, North America, South America and the Caribbean.
The name Auricularia polytricha, when used by authors from the Americas, is a synonym of A. nigricans. When used by Asian authors, it likely refers instead to Auricularia cornea.
From the article Auricularia nigricans on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Auricularia nigricans forms thin, rubbery-gelatinous fruit bodies that are ear-shaped and up to 60 mm (2.4 in) across and 4 mm (0.16 in) thick. The fruitbodies occur singly or in clusters. The upper surface is densely tomentose and ash-grey to yellowish brown. The spore-bearing underside is smooth and pinkish to brown.
Microscopic characters. The microscopic characters are typical of the genus Auricularia. The basidia are tubular, laterally septate, 50–75 × 3–6.5 μm. The spores are allantoid (sausage-shaped), 14.5–17 × 5–7 μm. The surface hairs are 650–1080 μm long.
Similar species. Auricularia cornea is similar but has much shorter surface hairs 200–400 μm long.
Range & habitat
Auricularia nigricans is a wood-rotting species, typically found on dead attached or fallen wood of broadleaf trees. It is widely distributed in the Americas, from Louisiana and the Caribbean south to Argentina, but is not currently known elsewhere.
== References ==
Wikipedia: “Habitat and distribution”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Auricularia polytricha in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 326015.