''Hebeloma aminophilum'', commonly known as the ghoul fungus, is a species of
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom.
The standard for the n ...
in the family
Hymenogastraceae
The Hymenogastraceae is a family of fungi in the order Agaricales with both agaric and false-truffle shaped fruitbodies. Formerly, prior to molecular analyses, the family was restricted to the false-truffle genera. The mushroom genus '' Psilo ...
. Found in
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
, it gets its
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...
from the propensity of the
fruiting 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 ...
to spring out of decomposing animal remains.
Taxonomy
The ghoul fungus was first
described by mycologists R.N. Hilton and
Orson K. Miller, Jr. in 1987.
The
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
collection consisted of about 100 specimens that were fruiting around the bones of a decomposing
kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
carcass that had been dumped some months before.
Etymology
The generic name is derived from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''Hebe'', "youth", and -''loma'', a fringe (pertaining to the fungal
veil
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the human head, head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has be ...
), referring to how the fungal veil is only seen in immature specimens.
Herefordshire Fungus Survey Group, News Sheet No 12: Autumn 2006
/ref> It gets its common name of ghoul fungus from its habit of growing around animal carcasses.
Description
The dull pinkish brown or cream cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...
is in diameter, convex initially before flattening out with age. There is a slight umbo, and the cap margin is inrolled when young. A thin white veil rapidly disappears in young mushrooms. The cap surface is sticky initially. The adnate (or sometimes adnexed) gills are pale pink to pinkish brown and up to 1 cm deep. With age, they can be encrusted with clumps of spores. The cylindrical stipe is high, 1–1.2 cm in diameter and has a thickened base and lacks a ring. The thick flesh
Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, ...
is cream or pale yellow, with a bitter taste and a stale smell. The spore print
300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing warm orange ("tussock") color spore print. ...
is pinkish brown, and the oval spores measure 8.5 by 4.9 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 mycelium
Mycelium (: mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Its normal form is that of branched, slender, entangled, anastomosing, hyaline threads. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are fo ...
is white.
Similar species
Similar species include the introduced poisonpie (''Hebeloma crustuliniforme
''Hebeloma crustuliniforme'', commonly known as poison pie or fairy cakes, is a gilled mushroom of the genus ''Hebeloma''. It is found in both the Old and New World and is poisonous.
Taxonomy
The species' specific name derives from the Latin ...
''), which has been recorded in pine plantations, the native western Australian poisonpie ('' H. westraliense''), which does not grow near carcasses, and the Australian white webcap ('' Cortinarius austroalbidus''), which is paler and smells of curry
Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internatio ...
.
Distribution and habitat
An uncommon fungus, ''H. aminophilum'' is found in southern Western Australia, southeastern South Australia and Victoria.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 ...
woodland in the vicinity of sheep, reptile and bird carcasses.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5695538
Ammonia fungi
aminophilum
Fungi described in 1987
Fungi native to Australia
Fungus species