Auriculariopsis ampla
Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Schizophyllaceae (Schizophyllaceae)
- Genus: Schizophyllum (Nutcracker)
- Species: Schizophyllum amplum (Auriculariopsis auricular)
Photo by: Yuri Semenov
The current name is Schizophyllum amplum / Schizophyllum earwort (according to Species Fungorum).
Description: The fruiting body is 0.5-1 (1.5) cm in size, at first almost spherical with a small hole, filled with a jelly-like mass, then deeply cupped, irregular in shape, hymenophore upward on a thin barely noticeable degenerate stalk or later saucer-shaped, less often in the form a bent cap, convex, sometimes uneven, with a tubercle at the base, with a drooping, fleecy whitish edge (curved inward), whitish outside, grayish, grayish-brownish, dirty-clayey.
The hymenophore (inside the calyx) is first jelly-like, then dull, gelatinous when dried, large-wrinkled or streaked when dried, reddish-brown, ocher-brownish, light brownish.
The pulp is thin, elastic, dense, without any special smell.
Distribution: Grows from October to December on knots and branches of deciduous trees (birch, linden, aspen, poplar), in groups, not often.
Evaluation: The edibility of Auriculariopsis is not known.
