Laetiporus portentosus | |
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Fruiting body of L. portentosus growing on a tree, South Island, New Zealand | |
Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Polyporales |
Family: | Fomitopsidaceae |
Genus: | Laetiporus |
Species: | L. portentosus
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Binomial name | |
Laetiporus portentosus (
Berk.) Rajchenb. (1995)
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Laetiporus portentosus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae, found in South America, Australia, and in the North Island and northern South Island of New Zealand. [1]
L. portentosus is known in Māori as pūtawa or pangu, and European settlers ( Pākeha) called it "beech whiskers", "beech beard", or " morepork bread". [2] It was also referred to as "punk", a general term for any Polyporus fungus dried and used as tinder. [3]
The fungus is a yellowish or white flattened bulbous mass, with a consistency like expanded polystyrene when it is dry, but soft like a sponge when it is thoroughly wet, with a light brown top and paler underside with very small but visible pores, 1–3 pores/mm. Often enough, the mass is thoroughly eaten by grubs, till it looks like a sponge. [4] [2] Usually found several metres above ground, it grows 10–30 cm across and up to 6 cm thick. [1] [4]
In New Zealand this species in Māori tradition was associated with the small tree hutu ( Ascarina lucida), so much so that it was known as ngā huruhuru o hutu waewae – "the hairs on the legs of hutu". [2] In New Zealand it is also found on southern beech ( Nothofagus) trees. [3] The white-throated treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea) has been recorded feeding on this fungus in a heathy dry forest in Victoria. [5]
In a study comparing different fungi that inhabit wood, it was found that L. portentosus had a high ability to decompose heartwood and a low ability to decompose sapwood of Nothofagus pumilio. [6]
The fungus was first described in 1844 by English mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley. Mario Rajchenberg transferred it to the genus Laetiporus in 1995, based on morphology, but in a 2008 molecular phylogeny L. portentosus fell well outside the core Laetiporus clade, suggesting Laetiporus is polyphyletic and more gene regions needed to be sequenced to resolve this. [7] [8] The fungus has acquired an extensive synonymy in the interim: [9]
L. portentosus has been used traditionally as tinder and for carrying fire by both Australian Aboriginals [10] and New Zealand Māori people; when dried and set alight, the fungus will smoulder very slowly, and could be used as a reliable source of ignition. [3] Smouldering pieces were half-buried in the ground (where they would burn for a day or two), carried from place to place in ornately-carved tinderboxes, or placed atop a stick and used to light one's way when travelling at night. [2] Pākehā also used pūtawa as a fire starter, a substitute for touchpaper, carrying it around in cigarette tins; it was even sent with flint stones to New Zealand troops in both World Wars to help light cigarettes and pipes. [2]
Māori used pūtawa cut into absorbent strips and bandaged around wounds to protect them from pressure. [2] It was also possibly taken internally "to soften and ease a difficult labour." [3] [11]