Two polypores

Today I went to Wheaton Regional Park (Maryland) to pick mushrooms in the woods. The park is a good spot for morels in the first weeks of the spring and it has a good size and good terrain, which includes hills covered with hard wood and pine, a lake, many brooks and some lawn covered areas, therefore allowing a large variety of mushrooms to grow. For those with family, the park offers barbecue areas, a carousel for the kids, bike paths and an ice ring (which was closed). Although the foray wasn't the most productive I managed to find a variety of old and hard polypores in decaying wood and two fresh specimens, one of which I'll describe below (the other I'll save for later).

First Mushroom

Date: 05/08/2010
Habitat:  Specimen found growing alone on ground, near rotten wood and under a tulip tree ("tulip poplar").

Measurements:
Stipe (stem) length - 5.0 cm
Stipe diameter at apex - 2.0 cm
Stipe diameter at middel - 1.2 cm
Stipe diameter at base - 1.5 cm
Pileus (cap) diameter - 7.7 cm
Pileus legth - 1.5 cm

Description:
Pileus cuticle (surface) brown and with a darker edge, with fine, short, soft and sparse fibrils (hair), margin is eroded and incurved (rolled downward), surface is dull, flesh is soft, white. Smell is not distictive but slightly sweet. Pileus is uplifted and shallowly depressed (center of pileus is deeper than borders). From the top, pileus is round. Taste is bland and not distinctive.
Hymenius (under side of the cap) is comprised of tightly attached tubes with round, white, pores, which do not bruise any color. Tubes are shallow (1-1.5 mm).

Stipe is central, solid, white, cartilagionous (brakes with a snap), when cut one can see small fibrils on border and dots inside, smell is agreeable but not distinctive. More importantly, stipe is radicated (continues as if it had a root) and pseudorhiza (root-like structure) is dark, convoluted and with multiple knots. Pseudorhiza is about 5 cm long. No ring (ring of tissue in stipe), veil (tissue covering pore surface) or volva (ring of tissue at stem base) were observed.
Spore print: could not obtain one.

Impressions: Given that specimen has "roots", spore surface is tightly attached and that it was found alone and near decaying woods, it suggests that this speciment is a Polyporus radicatus (Schwein.) Fr. The important things for identification here are the combination of a ground growing polypore with dark, convoluted pseudorhiza and thin tightly attached tubes. This is not an edible mushroom.


Note: After sequencing the intergenic region 1 (ITS1) of this mushroom I got a 98% match to Polyporus tuberaster. Apparently there is no sequence deposited for Polyporus radicatus and these two polyporus are very similiar to each other.

The sequence obtained was: GCCGAWCCGCAAGGAACCAAGCTAATGCATTTGAGAGGAGTCGACAATCGCCGACAAAAGCCTCCAAAGTCCAAGCCTTACAAAGACCACAAGGATCTTGCAGGTTGAGAATTTCATGACACTCAAACAGGCGTGCTCCTCGGAATGCCAAGGAGCGCAAGGTGCGTTCAAAGATTCGATGATTCACTGAATTCTGCAATTCACATTACTTATCGCATTTCGCTGCGTTCTTCATCGATGCA

See the result of the BLAST below:

gb|AF516594.1|  Polyporus tuberaster CulTENN10316 SBI 1 18S ribosomal RNA gene, 
partial sequence; internal transcribed spacer 1, 5.8S ribosomal 
RNA gene and internal transcribed spacer 2, complete 
sequence; and 28S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence
Length=988

 Score =  573 bits (310),  Expect = 2e-160
 Identities = 330/340 (97%), Gaps = 2/340 (0%)
 Strand=Plus/Plus

Query  3    ATTCAGTGAATCATCGAATCTTTGAMCGCACCTTGCGCTCCTTGGCATTCCGAGGAG-AG  61
            ||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| | 
Sbjct  627  ATTCAGTGAATCATCGAATCTTTGAACGCACCTTGCGCTCCTTGGCATTCCGAGGAGCAC  686

Query  62   GACTGTTTGAGTGTCATGAAATTCTCAACCTGCAAGATCCTTGTGGTCTTTGTAAGGCTT  121
            | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sbjct  687  GCCTGTTTGAGTGTCATGAAATTCTCAACCTGCGAGATCCTTGTGGTCTTTGTAAGGCTT  746

Query  122  GGACTTTGGAGGCTTTTGTCGGCGATTGTCGACTCCTCTCAAATGCATTAGCTTGGTTCC  181
            ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sbjct  747  GGACTTTGGAGGCTTTTGTCGGCGATTGTCGACTCCTCTCAAATGCATTAGCTTGGTTCC  806

Query  182  TTGCGGATCGGCTTTCGGTGTGATAGTTGTCTACGCCGTGACCGTGAAGCGTTTTGACTA  241
            |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| | |
Sbjct  807  TTGCGGATCGGCTTTCGGTGTGATAGTTGTCTACGCCGTGACCGTGAAGCGTTTTGGCGA  866

Query  242  GCTTCTAATCGTCTCGTTCGAGACTCATTCTTCATTGACATCTGACCTCAAATCAGGCGG  301
            |||||||| |||||||||||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sbjct  867  GCTTCTAACCGTCTCGTTCGAGACTTATTCTTCAT-GACATCTGACCTCAAATCAGGCGG  925

Query  302  GACTACCCGCTGAACTTAAGCATATCAATAAGCGGAGGAA  341
            ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sbjct  926  GACTACCCGCTGAACTTAAGCATATCAATAAGCGGAGGAA  965