Abstract
As well as “MATU-TAKE” (Armillaria Matsutake ITO ET IMAI) and “SII TAKE” (Cortinellus Berkeleyanus ITO ET IMAI), “SIMEZI” [Tricholoma conglobatum (VITT). SACC. Synonym. Clitocybe conglobatum BRESAD.] is one of the most important edible mushrooms in Japan. The mushroom grows in the forest land of deciduous trees mixed with conifers in autumn.
According to the writer's observations, the fungus is a mycorrhizaformer on Quercus spp. and some other woody plants.
In the present paper, the writer wishes to describe the morphological characteristics, the germination of the basidiospores and the cultural experiments of Tricholoma conglobatum. The results of the ecological investigations on the fungus will be given in detail in further reports.
(1) Morphological characteristics:
Sporophores grow in clusters. The pileus is blackish and spherical at first, but later expands to plane and becomes grey. The flesh is white and compact. The lamellae are white and sinuate to the stipe. The surface of the pileus is smooth and the size of it is very variable, but usually 4-9cm in diameter when expanded. The stipe is cylindrical, and sometimes very thick at the base. The length of the stipe is 3-12cm. The basidium is hyaline, cylindrical, 30-40μ long and 5-8μ wide. Basidiospores are hyaline and globose.
The length and width of basidiospores based on 100 spores from each of 4 different materials are as following table:
(2) In the writer's experiments, the germination of the basidiospores of the fungus was observed on various culture media, and especially on WAKSMAN'S agar and potato decoction agar, the good results were obtained; but the germination percentage was very small (it was only 10 per cent at best). The basidiospores germinated at 19-32°C; the optimum temperature for the spore-germination of the fungus. was about 28°C.
(3) The mycelial growth of the fungus on artificial media was not vigorous. Among 11 kinds of media, WAKSMAN'S medium, carrot decoction medium and potato decoction medium were more favorable for the growth of mycelium.
(4) The mycelium of the fungus grew most vigorously at the H-ion concentration of pH 5.2-6.0 on WAKSMAN'S solution.
(5) The minimum temperature for the mycelial growth seemed to be about 5C., the optimum, 25C. and the maximum, about 30C. No growth occured at 34C.
(6) The mycelial growth of the fungus developed also on a substratum of the following composition:
Sand (granules, 0.5-2mm. in diam.) 5 vol.,
humus (particles, 1-10mm. in diam.) 3 vol.,
Sphagnum-moss (particles, 1-10mm in diam.) 2 vol.
The nutrient solution used has following formula:
Distilled water…1000c.c., glucose……10g, peptone……5g, Ca(NO3)2……1g, MgSO47H2O……0.5g, KH2PO4……0.25, FeCl3……trace.
