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Splitgill Mushroom

Schizophyllum commune

INDEX

funga

Splitgill Mushroom
Species Description

The gills, which produce basidiospores on their surface, split when the mushroom dries out, earning this mushroom the common name split gill. It is common in rotting wood. The mushrooms can remain dry for decades and then revived with moisture.

It has 23,328 distinct mating types. Individuals of any mating type are compatible for mating with most other mating types. There are two genetic loci determining the mating type, locus A with 288 alleles and locus B with 81 alleles. A pair of fungi will only be fertile if they have different A and different B alleles; that is, each mating type can enter fertile pairings with 22,960 others.

Species Details

FAMILY

Schizophyllaceae

GENUS

Schizophyllaceae

SIZE

The cap is small, 1–4 centimetres (3⁄8–1+5⁄8 in) wide

LIFE SPAN

From nature.com (cited below) : In 1945 the late G. R. Bisby1 reported that sporophores of the agaric Schizophyllum commune Fr. collected by A. H. R. Buller2 at Winnipeg in 1909 and 1911 and freeze-dried in 1910 and 1912 had retained their viability up to 35½ years. Pure cultures were obtained and in June 1945, two months after submitting his communication for publication, they developed sporophores.

HEMISPHERE

Northern

ECOSYSTEM

throughout the world

Add a Sighting
Sources

Main Image By Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand - Schizophyllum commune (Split gill), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58301633

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophyllum_commune

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC25488/

AINSWORTH, G. Longevity of Schizophyllum commune. II. Nature 195, 1120–1121 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/1951120a0

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