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Are equatorial mushrooms reluctant fruiters?
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Volume 9, Part 4, November 1995
ARE EQUATORIAL MUSHROOMS RELUCTANT FRUITERS? ROGER HILTON 62 Viewway, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009 The recent report of a successful foray in the Malaysian rainforest (Watling, 1994) raises one of the most striking aspects of equatorial tropical mycology: the dearth of fruit-bodies to be seen by the casual visitor. In my days in Malaysia thirty years ago larger fungi were disappointingly scarce in situations where one would have expected the warmth and humidity to make them thrive. The then Malayan Nature Society did conduct one or two forays, but only once did we see a suite of fungi comparable with that which Watling describes. That was in 1962, two weeks after an exceptional drought had broken. Droughts may occur, and last two or three weeks in West Malaysia. During the 1962 flush the Templer Park area was alive with fruit-bodies . A yellow-brown Clitoeybe dominated the bordering Kapur (Dryobalanops aromatiea) forest. Several species of Russula were seen but none of Laetarius. I never saw a Lactarius throughout fifteen years residence in Malaya, and this was not for want of looking, as my colleagues at the Rubber Research Institute were anxious to find them because their milk contains the same eis-polyisoprene as natural rubber (Stewart et al. , 1955). Another world-wide genus conspicuous by its absence was Armillar ia. This is just as well for the rubber plantations, as Armillaria Root Rot is a scourge of Hevea in Africa. Species that were abundant in 1962 were Microporus xanthopus (Fr .) O. Kuntze, Dietyophora indusiata (Vent .: Pers.) Desv., Lentinus saj or-caj u (Fr.) Fr. , and Cookeina suleipes (Berk.) Kunze. At the generic level, and at that time we were certainly not equipped in either knowledge or facilities to take matters further, there were several species of Amanita, Myeena, Marasm ius and Clavaria. The common dearth of larger fungus fruitbodies in the wet tropics led Westerdijk to write : 'In the virgin woods . . . even the flora of
mushrooms on the ground is absent. Everything seems to point to the conclusion that conditions are unfavourable to fungus growth'. The tropical agriculturist G.B. Masefield (1940) concurred and suggested that large fungi were rare in the tropics and those that did occur were drab. Masefield was inclined to blame excessive insect and microbial activity. These views provoked a prompt rejoinder from E.J .R . Corner whose paper in the Straits Settlements Gardens' Bulletin (Corn er, 1935) appeared to have escaped Masefield. Corner (1940) wrote : 'I would generalise from my Malayan experience for the whole oftropical Asia and Australasia by saying that larger fungi are abundant numerically, specifically, and generically but that their fructifications are seasonal, developing quickly and rotting quickly, during the first rains that follow dry weather, and that if one is not able to visit the forest daily during the right fortnight, no trace of these fungi will be found'. Corner (1993) gives examples of rare fruiting and points out that this is a phenomenon which might prevent the fungus biota of Malaysia ever being fully known. References Corner, E.J.H . (1935) The seasonal fruiting of agarics in Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin ofthe Straits Settlements. 9: 79-88. Corner, E.J.H. (1940) Note: Larger fungi in the tropics. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 24: 357. Corner. E.J.H. (1993) 'I am a part of all that I have met' in Aspects of Tropical Mycology. Symposium of the British Mycological Society held at the University of Liverpool, April 1992. Masefield, G.B. (1940) Some problems of collecting larger fungi in the tropics. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 24: 64-67. Stewart, W.D. , Wachtel, W.L., Shipman, J.J ., & Yanko, J .A. (1955) Synthesis of rubber by fungi. Science 122: 1271-1272. Watling, R. (1994) A Malaysian fungus foray. Mycologist 8: 179 -180.
Volume 9, Part 4, November 1995
ARE EQUATORIAL MUSHROOMS RELUCTANT FRUITERS? ROGER HILTON 62 Viewway, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009 The recent report of a successful foray in the Malaysian rainforest (Watling, 1994) raises one of the most striking aspects of equatorial tropical mycology: the dearth of fruit-bodies to be seen by the casual visitor. In my days in Malaysia thirty years ago larger fungi were disappointingly scarce in situations where one would have expected the warmth and humidity to make them thrive. The then Malayan Nature Society did conduct one or two forays, but only once did we see a suite of fungi comparable with that which Watling describes. That was in 1962, two weeks after an exceptional drought had broken. Droughts may occur, and last two or three weeks in West Malaysia. During the 1962 flush the Templer Park area was alive with fruit-bodies . A yellow-brown Clitoeybe dominated the bordering Kapur (Dryobalanops aromatiea) forest. Several species of Russula were seen but none of Laetarius. I never saw a Lactarius throughout fifteen years residence in Malaya, and this was not for want of looking, as my colleagues at the Rubber Research Institute were anxious to find them because their milk contains the same eis-polyisoprene as natural rubber (Stewart et al. , 1955). Another world-wide genus conspicuous by its absence was Armillar ia. This is just as well for the rubber plantations, as Armillaria Root Rot is a scourge of Hevea in Africa. Species that were abundant in 1962 were Microporus xanthopus (Fr .) O. Kuntze, Dietyophora indusiata (Vent .: Pers.) Desv., Lentinus saj or-caj u (Fr.) Fr. , and Cookeina suleipes (Berk.) Kunze. At the generic level, and at that time we were certainly not equipped in either knowledge or facilities to take matters further, there were several species of Amanita, Myeena, Marasm ius and Clavaria. The common dearth of larger fungus fruitbodies in the wet tropics led Westerdijk to write : 'In the virgin woods . . . even the flora of
mushrooms on the ground is absent. Everything seems to point to the conclusion that conditions are unfavourable to fungus growth'. The tropical agriculturist G.B. Masefield (1940) concurred and suggested that large fungi were rare in the tropics and those that did occur were drab. Masefield was inclined to blame excessive insect and microbial activity. These views provoked a prompt rejoinder from E.J .R . Corner whose paper in the Straits Settlements Gardens' Bulletin (Corn er, 1935) appeared to have escaped Masefield. Corner (1940) wrote : 'I would generalise from my Malayan experience for the whole oftropical Asia and Australasia by saying that larger fungi are abundant numerically, specifically, and generically but that their fructifications are seasonal, developing quickly and rotting quickly, during the first rains that follow dry weather, and that if one is not able to visit the forest daily during the right fortnight, no trace of these fungi will be found'. Corner (1993) gives examples of rare fruiting and points out that this is a phenomenon which might prevent the fungus biota of Malaysia ever being fully known. References Corner, E.J.H . (1935) The seasonal fruiting of agarics in Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin ofthe Straits Settlements. 9: 79-88. Corner, E.J.H. (1940) Note: Larger fungi in the tropics. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 24: 357. Corner. E.J.H. (1993) 'I am a part of all that I have met' in Aspects of Tropical Mycology. Symposium of the British Mycological Society held at the University of Liverpool, April 1992. Masefield, G.B. (1940) Some problems of collecting larger fungi in the tropics. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 24: 64-67. Stewart, W.D. , Wachtel, W.L., Shipman, J.J ., & Yanko, J .A. (1955) Synthesis of rubber by fungi. Science 122: 1271-1272. Watling, R. (1994) A Malaysian fungus foray. Mycologist 8: 179 -180.