Macrocybe gigantea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Tricholomataceae
Genus:
Macrocybe
Species:
M. gigantea
Binomial name
Macrocybe gigantea
(Massee) Pegler & Lodge

Macrocybe gigantea is a species of mushroom that is native to India (West Bengal), Pakistan, and Nepal.[1]

Taxonomy

English botanist George Edward Massee described this species as Tricholoma giganteum in 1912 from material collected in Shyamnagar, West Bengal, by Ethel Maud Burkill in 1911.[2] Tricholoma was a wastebasket taxon; the species was moved into the new genus Macrocybe in 1998.[1] Specimens currently classified as M. gigantea from Pakistan and China were more closely related to each other than specimens from India.[3]

Description

The mushroom has a smooth cap that is conical when young before expanding flattening out and can reach 30-35 cm in diameter. It is variable in colour, initially white before ageing to light grey, paler at the margin. The crowded sinuate gills are yellow. The cylindrical stipe is 15-18 cm high by 6 cm wide and is the same colour as the cap. The firm white flesh is up to 3 cm thick under the cap. The spore print is white. The oval spores measure 5.7–7.5 μm long by 4.0–5.3 μm wide.[1]

Ecology

In West Bengal, M. gigantea grows in groups or sometimes fairy rings in shady or grassy areas, or in association with angiosperm trees.[4] M. gigantea has been found growing on elephant dung in Kerala state in India.[5]

Relationship with humans

Known locally as Boro dhoodh chhatu, roughly translated as "smells like milk when dried", M. gigantea is picked and sold at roadside markets in central and coastal West Bengal and cooked in mustard oil and spices.[6] In Tripura, the local Tripuri people also collect and eat this mushroom.[7] M. gigantea is able to be cultivated, with investigations showing that pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus) is a promising substrate.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pegler, David N.; Lodge, D.Jean; Nakasone, Karen K. (1998). "The Pantropical Genus Macrocybe Gen. nov". Mycologia. 90 (3): 494. doi:10.2307/3761408. JSTOR 3761408.
  2. ↑ Massee, George Edward (1912). "Fungi Exotici - XIV". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). 1912 (6): 253–255 [254]. doi:10.2307/4104579. JSTOR 4104579.
  3. ↑ Razaq, A. (2016). "An Asian edible mushroom, Macrocybe gigantea: its distribution and ITS-rDNA based phylogeny". Mycosphere. 7 (4): 525–530. doi:10.5943/mycosphere/7/4/11.
  4. ↑ Acharya, Krishnendu; Tarafder, Entaj; Pradhan, Prakash; Dutta, Arun Kumar; Paloi, Soumitra; Datta, Moumita; Roy, Anirban (2017). "Contribution to the Macromycetes of West Bengal, India: 18–22". Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology. 10 (9): 3061. doi:10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00543.1.
  5. ↑ Manimohan, Patinjareveettil; Thomas, K. Agretious; Nisha, V.S. (2007). "Agarics on elephant dung in Kerala State, India". 99: 147–157. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ Dutta, Arun Kumar; Acharya, Krishnendu (2014). "Traditrional and ethno-medicinal knowledge of mushrooms in West Bengal, India". Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research. 7 (4): 1–6. ISSN 0974-2441.
  7. ↑ Roy Das, A. (2017). "Proximate composition and antimicrobial activity of three wild edible mushrooms consumed by ethnic inhabitants of Tripura in northeast India". Studies in Fungi. 2 (1): 17–25. doi:10.5943/sif/2/1/3.
  8. ↑ Devi, Sapna; Sumbali, Geeta (2021). "Suitability of three different cereal grains for spawn development and their impact on the growth and yield of Macrocybe gigantea (Massee) Pegler & Lod". Journal of Applied and Natural Science. 13: 204–209. doi:10.31018/jans.v13i1.2547.
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