Family: Echinodontiaceae [E-flora]
"Stem decay fungi increase in abundance as forests age, becoming prevalent in very old forests. In most cases, young trees are as susceptible as old trees, but the chances of wound decay from falling trees or fire scars, or infection from true heart-rotting fungi such as Phellinus pini or Echinodontium tinctorum , accumulate with time, and the volume of decayed wood continually increases." [Dighton TFC]
"Summary: Also listed in Toothed category. Echinodontium tinctorium forms hard hoof-shaped conks on hemlock and true fir, with cracked hairy blackish upper surface, grayish blunt spines, and rusty-orange flesh. The common name India paint fungus refers to its use by First Nations people in preparing war paint: in powdered form it was also used by shamans as medicine. It can also be used as a red dye for yarn. It is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, AK, AZ, CA, CO, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY, Mexico, and not elsewhere in the world, (Gilbertson)." [E-flora]
"COMMENTS: The woody hoof-shaped fruiting body looks like aconk, but has long spines or "teeth" on its underside. The bright orange to reddish-orange flesh is also distinctive. It is not closely related to other teeth fungi and is now sequestered in a family of its own." [MushDemyst]
"Habitat/Range: single or several on living or occasionally downed conifers such as fir and hemlock, (Arora), perennial, primarily on Abies (true fir) and Tsuga (hemlock), rarely on other conifers, causes a yellowish laminated to stringy heartrot of living conifers, the main cause of heartrot and volume loss in true firs in western coniferous forests, (Gilbertson)" [E-flora]
"In western Oregon and Washington, stands of Douglas-fir that are considered old growth have greater numbers of trees with broken tops, excavated bole cavities, root collar cavities, and bark resinosis than either young or mature stands (Spies and Franklin 1991). Those characteristics are typical of old trees throughout the region; old grand fir trees, for example, are commonly infected with a heart rot called Indian Paint fungus (Echinodontium tinctorium)." [EIPNWFM 2000]
Status: Native [E-flora]
Other Uses
More Uses
"Yu et al. (2009) used a new strain of Echinodontium taxodii in biological pretreatment to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of two trees native to China: Chinese willow (hardwood) and China-fir (softwood). E. taxodii preferentially degraded the lignin during the pretreatment, and the pretreated woods showed significant increases in enzymatic hydrolysis ratios (4.7-fold for hardwood and 6.3-fold for softwood). They showed that in fact the enhancement of enzymatic hydrolysis was due to a decrease in the irreversible adsorption of cellulase to lignocelluloses, which may result from alteration in lignin structure after biological pretreatment." [Druzhinina FLB]
Synonyms
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