Phellinus

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title: "Phellinus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["phellinus", "agaricomycetes-genera"] description: "Genus of fungi" topic_path: "general/phellinus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phellinus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of fungi ::

| image = Phellinus.pomaceus2.-.lindsey.jpg | image_caption = Phellinus pomaceus | taxon = Phellinus | authority = Quél. (1886) | type_species = Phellinus igniarius | type_species_authority = (L.) Quél. (1886) | subdivision = See List of Phellinus species

Phellinus is a genus of fungi in the family Hymenochaetaceae. Many species cause white rot. Fruit bodies, which are found growing on wood, are resupinate, sessile, and perennial. The flesh is tough and woody or cork-like, and brown in color. Clamp connections are absent, and the skeletal hyphae are yellowish-brown.

The name Phellinus means cork.

The species Phellinus ellipsoideus (previously Fomitiporia ellipsoidea) produced the largest ever fungal fruit body. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Phellinin_a-B.png" caption="Phellinin A-B.png"] ::

Phellinus species produce a number of natural chemicals which are of interest to science. These include the natural phenol hispidin, bio-active styrylpyrones called phelligridins, and bio-active isolates called phellinins.

Uses

In Australia, Indigenous Australians have used Phellinus fruit bodies medicinally. The smoke from burning fruit bodies was inhaled by those with sore throats. Scrapings from slightly charred fruit bodies were drunk with water to treat coughing, sore throats, "bad chests", fevers and diarrhoea. There is some uncertainty about which species of Phellinus were used.

Species

Main article: List of Phellinus species

, Catalogue of Life lists 94 species in the genus Phellinus. Selected species include:

• Phellinus ellipsoideus
• Phellinus igniarius
• Phellinus lundellii
• Phellinus pomaceus
• Phellinus tremulae
• Phellinus viticola

The widespread species Fulvifomes robiniae was formerly considered within Phellinus, but was moved to the genus Fulvifomes when that genus was resurrected based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence.

References

References

1. (2010-09-15). "Styrylpyrones from the medicinal fungus Phellinus baumii and their antioxidant properties". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
2. (May 2010). "Phellinins B and C, new styrylpyrones from the culture broth of Phellinus sp". The Journal of Antibiotics.
3. "Phellinus Quél. {{!}} COL".
4. (1 March 2018). "Taxonomic delimitation of ''Fulvifomes robiniae'' (Hymenochaetales, Basidiomycota) and related species in America: ''F. squamosus'' sp. nov.". Plant Systematics and Evolution.
5. Dai Y-C, Cui B-K.. (2011). "''Fomitiporia ellipsoid'' has the largest fruiting body among the fungi". Fungal Biology.
6. Cui B-K, Decock C.. (2012). "''Phellinus castanopsidis'' sp. nov. (Hymenochaetaceae) from southern China, with preliminary phylogeny based on rDNA sequences". Mycological Progress.
7. Halpern GM. (2007). "Healing Mushrooms". Square One Publishers.
8. Kalotas A.. (1996). "Introduction—Fungi in the Environment". CSIRO.
9. Kirk PM.. "Species Fungorum (version 22nd December 2014). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life".
10. Lee I-K, Yun B-S.. (2007). "Highly oxygenated and unsaturated metabolites providing a diversity of hispidin class antioxidants in the medicinal mushrooms ''Inonotus'' and ''Phellinus''". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry.
11. Ellis MB, Ellis JB.. (1990). "Fungi Without Gills (Hymenomycetes and Gasteromycetes): An Identification Handbook". Chapman and Hall.

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