Fuscocerrena is a fungal genus in the family Polyporaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single polypore species Fuscocerrena portoricensis, found in eastern North America, Central America, and South America.

Fuscocerrena
Fuscocerrena portoricensis in Ecuador
Scientific classification
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Genus:
Fuscocerrena

Ryvarden (1982)
Type species
Fuscocerrena portoricensis
(Fr.) Ryvarden (1982)
Synonyms
  • Polyporus portoricensis Fr. (1828)
  • Cerrenella coriacea (Berk. & Ravenel) Murrill (1905)
  • Cerrenella subcoriacea Murrill (1908)

Taxonomy

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Fuscocerrena was circumscribed by Norwegian mycologist Leif Ryvarden in 1982 to contain the fungus originally described by Elias Fries as Polyporus portoricensis. This species was also previously placed in Cerrenella, a genus proposed by William Murrill in 1905, but later abandoned.[1]

Description

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The genus is characterized by its irregular fruit body that when fresh is farinose (covered by a white, mealy powder) and greenish white in colour; older fruit bodies become dark brown. Microscopically, the fungus features a dimitic hyphal system, generative hyphae with clamp connections, and dendrohyphidia (small, spiderweb-like hyphae)–a characteristic, which although common in the family Corticiaceae, is seldom encountered in the Polyporaceae. The spores of Fuscocerrena portoricensis are hyaline, cylindrical, and non-amyloid, measuring 5–7 by 2–2.5 μm.[1]

Habitat and distribution

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Fuscocerrena portoricensis is found in eastern North America, Central America, and South America, and has also been collected in Cuba and Jamaica. It grows on decomposing deciduous wood.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ryvarden, Leif (1982). "Fuscocerrena, a new genus in the Polyporaceae". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 79 (2): 279–281. doi:10.1016/s0007-1536(82)80114-9.