Studies on Korean Species of Armillaria

한국산 뽕나무버섯균의 종에 관한 연구

One hundred and ninety two isolates of Armillaria were obtained from mycelial fans on infected hosts, rhizomorphs, and single basidiospores or trauma tissue of fruiting bodies. Mating tests showed that two of these isolates were A. mellea, eight were A. tabescens, 20 were A. ostoyae, and 162 were A. gallica. Armillaria ostoyae was mainly isolated from Pinus koraiensis and Qurecus spp., A. tabescens from fruiting bodies on Pinus densiflora and Qurecus spp., and A. gallica from many tree species but not Pinus koraiensis. Armillaria mellea, A. gallica, A. ostoyae and A. tabescens showed distinct protein banding patterns. Mycelial growth and rhizomorph formation was good on basal medium with ethanol added. A. gallica and A. mellea formed many rhizomorphs, but A. ostoyae did not. A. gallica showed the best rhizomorph formation on media with tannic acid and ethanol, but a. mellea formed the most rhizomorphs on gallic acid. Rhizomorphs showed monopodial branching for A. gallica and dichotomous branching for A. ostoyae. Fruiting bodies. formed in the laboratory on sawdust media most abundantly by A. tabescens. In nature, fruit body formation by A. tabescens was from early to mid August. A. ostoyae and A. gallica fruit bodies were formed from early August to late October. While there are common names in Korea for A. mellea and A. tabescens, such as mulberry mushroom relative, no common names are available for A. gallica and A. ostoyae. Therefore, we refer to a. gallica as the Gastrodia mushroom because it has been used to produce Gastrodia and A. ostoyae as the Korean pine mushroom because it is frequently found as mushrooms on Korean pine.