VOUCHER INFORMATION
Name: Ganoderma lucidum
Authority: (Curtis) P. Karst. 1881
Vouchered by: Joseph E. Walsh
Date found: 9/12/2007
Synonyms:
Collected by: Joseph E. Walsh
Voucher ID:4
Confirming Mycologist: Dr. Andrew Methven
LOCATION
Latitude: 038.515 N
Longitude: 090.474 W
City: Fenton
County: St. Louis
State: Missouri
Site location: 660 Green Hedge Drive
ENVIRONMENT
Habitat: open area
Moisture conditions: extremely dry
Substrate: wood - dead
IDENTIFYING DOCUMENT
Reference document: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms - 1981
Author:Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN No: 0-394-51992-2
Page no:514
Check for Added ID Material
SPORE DESCRIPTION
Spore length: 7 - 12 microns
Spore width: 6 - 8 microns
Spore color: brown
Spore texture: somewhat spiked, double walled
Spore shape: somewhat kidney shaped, elliptical
Spore print color: brown
Chemical reaction: n/d
Huge specimens, like dinner plates, up to a foot across. There were 39 specimens in that spot, within a 12 x 12 foot grassy yard. The spores were very difficult to obtain A very sparse, thin print upon a black glass plate. A very sparse deposit upon porous paper pressed between two halves Of mushroom by rubber bands. Spores do have double walls and are conspicuously spiked. This species grows in two varieties; 1) As a hard shelf on dead cottonwood/willow trees, and, 2) As a stemmed variety on the forest floor, mostly in bottomland forests. a.k.a. Varnished shelf, Ling Chih, Mushroom of Immortality. Close examination by Dr. Methven (see annotation above) combined with the 2015 DNA analysis confirmed that this specimen is Ganoderma lucidum.