''Polyozellus multiplex'' is a species of fungus first described in 1899, and is commonly known as the blue chanterelle, the clustered blue chanterelle, or, in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

, the black chanterelle. The distinctive

fruit body In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particul ...

of this species comprises blue- to purple-colored clusters of vase- or spoon-shaped

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

with veiny wrinkles on the undersurface that run down the length of the

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushr ...

. It was considered the monotypic species of ''Polyozellus'' until recent molecular work split the species complex into five species. The genus name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''poly'' meaning ''many'', and ''oz'', meaning ''branch''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''multiplex'' means "in many pieces", referring to the compound nature of the fruit body. ''P. multiplex'' may be found growing on the ground in

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...

, usually under

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ( taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the sub ...

and

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...

trees. It is an

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushro ...

species, and has been harvested for commercial purposes. ''P. multiplex'' contains the

bioactive compound A bioactive compound is a compound that has an effect on a living organism, tissue or cell, usually demonstrated by basic research in vitro or in vivo in the laboratory. While dietary nutrients are essential to life, bioactive compounds have not ...

polyozellin Polyozellin is a chemical which occurs in the mushroom '' Polyozellus multiplex''. It inhibits prolyl endopeptidase, an enzyme that has a role in processing proteins (specifically, amyloid precursor protein) in Alzheimer's disease. Chemicals tha ...

, shown to have various

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemica ...

properties, including suppressive effects on

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenoca ...

Description

''Polyozellus multiplex'' is part of the group of fungi collectively known as cantharelloid mushrooms (which includes the genera ''Cantharellus'', ''Craterellus'', ''

Gomphus ''Gomphus'' can refer to either one of two genera of living organism: * ''Gomphus'' (dragonfly), a widespread genus of dragonfly * ''Gomphus'' (fungus), a small genus of fungus {{Genus disambiguation ...

'', and ''Polyozellus'') because of the similarity of their

structures and the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

of the spore-producing region (the

hymenophore A hymenophore refers to the hymenium-bearing structure of a fungal fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidi ...

) on the underside of the caps. The fan- or funnel-shaped fruit bodies of the black chanterelle grow clustered together on the ground, often in large masses that may reach aggregate diameters of up to , although they are usually up to . The individual

, wide and almost as long, are violet-black, with edges that are initially whitish, and with a

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

surface—a white powdery accumulation of spore deposit. The upper surface may be

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