Meripilus giganteus

Riesenporling ( Meripilus giganteus)

The Riesenporling ( Meripilus giganteus) is a fungus of the family of Riesenporlingsverwandten ( Meripilaceae ).

Description

The fruiting bodies are composed of numerous tongue- to fan-shaped hats that originate from a common rooting stalk. The hats are usually dachziegelig stacked and slightly lobed. Laterally they narrowing into a short stalk -like portion.

The width of the cuts amounts to 6 to 20, the thickness of 1 to 2 centimeters. Young they are yellow-brown to zimtfuchsig, then dark brown with cremegelblichem edge. Old and injured them black. The surface is weakly zoned, tomentose, grainy on the edge, wrinkled at the base. The entire fruiting body is 20 to 50, exceptionally well over 100 inches wide and up to 70 kilograms. He is in Central Europe, the largest and heaviest collection fruiting bodies.

The tubes late formed are short and white, the very short pores on Strunk decurrent, white to pale yellow, in contact blackening. The flesh is white and runs to the air at first reddish and blackish later. It smells spicy, older uncomfortable after fungus. Only very young it is soft and juicy, fibrous and later at the age almost leathery. It tastes sour, bitter, the mushroom is edible only young. The spores are broadly elliptical, smooth, 5 to 7.5 4 to 6.5 microns in size.

Occurrence

The Riesenporling comes from July to November at the stem base, stumps and roots of beech, oak, lime, horse chestnut and other deciduous trees, rarely on conifers before. The Saprobiont lives of dead wood in varying degrees of decomposition and is weak parasite on damaged stems. It causes an intense white rot and is not rare.