Laetiporus portentosus

Laetiporus portentosus is a species of polypore fungus in the family Fomitopsidaceae. It is found in South America, Australia, and New Zealand. It has been used traditionally as a tinder and to carry fire by Australian Aboriginals,[1] and by New Zealand Māori people. The Māori have also used it as a "wound protector, to soften and ease a difficult labor."[2]

Laetiporus portentosus
In Attunga State Forest, New South Wales, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Polyporales
Family:
Fomitopsidaceae
Genus:
Laetiporus
Species:
L. portentosus
Binomial name
Laetiporus portentosus
(Berk.) Rajchenb. (1995)

The white-throated treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaea) has been recorded feeding on this fungus in a heathy dry forest in Victoria.[3]

Taxonomy

The fungus was first described in 1844 by English mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley. Mario Rajchenberg transferred it to the genus Laetiporus in 1995.[4] The fungus has acquired an extensive synonymy in the interim:[5]

  • Polyporus portentosus Berk. (1844)
  • Ungulina portentosa (Berk.) Pat. (1906)
  • Piptoporus portentosus (Berk.) G. Cunn. (1965)
  • Polyporus eucalyptorum Fr. (1846)
  • Ungulina eucalyptorum (Fr.) Pat. (1906)
  • Piptoporus eucalyptorum (Fr.) Warcup (1986)
  • Polyporus leucocreas Cooke (1879)
  • Polyporus spermolepidis Pat. (1898)
  • Ungulina spermolepidis (Pat.) Pat. (1906)
  • Ungulina spermolepidis var. pandani Pat. (1906)
  • Polyporus spermolepidis var. pandani (Pat.) Sacc. & Trotter (1912)
  • Polyporus albofuscus Lloyd (1924)
  • Durogaster albus Lloyd (1924)

References
  1. Cunningham A, Xeufei Y (2012). Mushrooms in Forests and Woodlands: "Resource Management, Values and Local Livelihoods". Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-136-53817-9.
  2. Fuller R, Buchanan P, Roberts M (2005). "Medicinal uses of fungi by New Zealand Maori people". International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms. 7 (3): 402. doi:10.1615/IntJMedMushrooms.v7.i3.470.
  3. Maurer, C.N.; Maurer, G.; Reaney, L.T. (2017). "White-throated Treecreeper 'Cormobates leucophaea' feeding on bracket fungus". Australian Field Ornithology. 34: 10–11.
  4. Rajchenberg M. (1995). "A taxonomic study of the Subantarctic Piptoporus (Polyporaceae, Basidiomycetes) II". Nordic Journal of Botany. 15 (1): 105–119. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1995.tb00127.x.
  5. "GSD Species Synonymy: Laetiporus portentosus (Berk.) Rajchenb". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
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