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''Astraeus odoratus'' (; ''Het pho nang'' เห็ดเผาะหนัง, ''Het pho'' เห็ดเผาะ, or ''Het nang'' เห็ดหนัง, the latter meaning "skin mushroom") is a species of false earthstar in the family
''Astraeus odoratus'' it is found in the dry lowland
Diplocystaceae
Diplocystaceae (alternatively spelled Diplocystidaceae or Diplocystidiaceae) is a family of fungi in the Boletales order. The family was described by mycologist Hanns Kreisel
Hanns Kreisel (16 July 1931 – 18 January 2017) was a German mycol ...
. Described as a new species in 2004, it was originally found in the Thai highlands
The Thai highlands or Hills of northern Thailand is a mountainous natural region in the north of Thailand. Its mountain ranges are part of the system of hills extending through Laos, Burma, and China and linking to the Himalayas, of which they may ...
growing in sandy or laterite
Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...
-rich soil in dry lowland dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...
forests. The species is found in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
Description
Fruit bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...
begin as brownish spheres or flattened spheres, partially submerged in the earth. The outer tissue layer, the exoperidium, splits open in a star-like fashion into 3–9 rays. The rays are hygroscopic
Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption (chemistry), absorption or adsorption from the surrounding Natural environment, environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water mol ...
, spreading out when moist and curling inward when dry. The fully expanded fruit body measures up to in diameter. Fresh fruit bodies have an odor similar to moist soil.
The spores are spherical, covered with spines, and measure 7.5–15.2 μm
The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...
. The ornamentation of the spines on the surface is less dense than that of the similar ''Astraeus hygrometricus
''Astraeus hygrometricus'', commonly known as the hygroscopic earthstar, the barometer earthstar, or the false earthstar, is a species of fungus in the family Diplocystaceae. Young specimens resemble a puffball when unopened. In maturity, the ...
''.
Habitat and distribution
''Astraeus odoratus'' it is found in the dry lowland dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...
forests of Thailand. The fungus fruits during the rainy season in May and June, in sandy or laterite
Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...
-rich soil. It is associated with Alder
Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
, Chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Description
...
, ''Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
'' and Douglas-fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...
.
In Thailand, it is commonly believed that forest fires stimulate the growth of mushrooms, including ''A. odoratus'', and fires are set intentionally to increase the yield of fruit bodies. Although the mushrooms may be easier to find and collect on the litter
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...
-free ground of burnt forest, there is no evidence that burning increases yield, while it does decrease the biodiversity and yield of other edible mushroom-producing fungi.
Uses
Since they cannot be cultivated commercially, these mushrooms fetch a high price on the market. Young fruit bodies are collected from the wild and sold in the markets ofThailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. Thai people eat the blanched mushroom with ''nam phrik
''Nam phrik'' (, ) is a type of Thailand, Thai Spice, spicy chili sauce typical of Thai cuisine. Usual ingredients for ''nam phrik'' type sauces are fresh or dry chilies, garlic, shallots, Lime (fruit), lime juice and often some kind of Fish past ...
'' (Thai chilli pastes) or ''nam chim
''Nam chim'' or ''nam jim'' (, ) is Thai for " dipping sauce". It can refer to a wide variety of dipping sauces in Thai cuisine, with many of them a combination of salty, sweet, spicy and sour.
''Nam chim'' tend to be more watery in consistency ...
'' (dipping sauces), or cooked in curry and also only boiled in water with fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...
and palm sugar
Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...
.
See also
*'' Astraeus asiaticus''References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astraeus Odoratus Boletales Fungi described in 2004 Fungi of Asia Fungus species