''Phellinus arctostaphyli'', also known as the manzanita conk or the manzanita hoof polypore, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
shelf fungus.
Native to western North America, this
saprotrophic
Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...
fungus only colonizes the wood of ''
Ceanothus
''Ceanothus'' is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. ''"Ceanothus" ...
'', ''
Adenostoma'', and ''
Arctostaphylos
''Arctostaphylos'' (; from "bear" and "bunch of grapes") is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas () and bearberries. There are about 60 species of ''Arctostaphylos'', ranging from ground-hugging arctic, coastal, and mountain shrub t ...
.''
''P. arctostaphyli'' is closely to related to three other North American ''Phellinus'' species, including ''
Phellinus tremulae
''Phellinus tremulae'', the aspen bracket, is a species of polypore fungus in the family Hymenochaetaceae
The ''Hymenochaetaceae'' are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order Hymenochaetales. The family contains several species that ...
'' and ''
Phellinus tuberculosus.''
However, in part due to the "economic insignificance of its hosts," ''P. arctostaphyli'' is relatively poorly studied as an individual species.
The conks or hoofs (
basidiocarps
In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do no ...
) appear perennially, are tough and woody themselves, with tiny pores on the underside and black to gray rings on top that are prone to fracturing longitudinally.
This species was first described by
William Henry Long in 1917 as ''Fomes arctostaphyli.''
In 1954, mycologist
Josiah L. Lowe argued that it was a synonym of ''
Fomes igniarius''.
Tuomo Niemelä moved it into the genus ''Phellinus'' in 1975.
The presence of ''P. arctostaphyli'' has been correlated with
manzanita mortality in Mexico.
References
Sources
*
Fungi of North America
Fungus species
Phellinus
{{Agaricomycetes-stub