Pleurotus novae-zelandiae (Berk.) Sacc. 1887

Pleurotus novae-zelandiae is a species of fungus in the genus Pleurotus first described by Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1855, endemic to New Zealand.^[1]

Description

General

• The cap is hygrophanous, subgelatinous, white, fan-shaped, reniform, 6–8 cm. broad, 3–4 cm. long;
• The stem is obsolete but the mushroom is attached by a narrowed base which forms a little round disc,
• The gills are broad, distant, thin, interstices veiny.^[1]

Neither Greta Stevenson (1964) nor Egon Horak (1971) could trace material of P. novae-zelandiae, and according to Barbara P. Segedin its description by Berkeley from 1855 would indicate it to be a species of Marasmiellus or Resupinatus.^[2] Nevertheless, it is still an accepted species.^[3]

Distribution, habitat & ecology

This mushroom is saprobic on dead wood, present on North Island, of New Zealand.^[1]

References