Wolfiporia cocos (F. A. Wolf) Ryvarden & Gilb. 1984

Introduction toW. extensa is written in Chinese on this website.

Fuling (toelen) possesses saprophytic and aerobic habit and usually lives at altitude from 400 to 1500 meters. The fungus obtains its energy from decaying dead wood and it is known as one of the ‘brown-rotters’. (Gilbertson and Ryvarden 1986, 1987; Farr et al.1989, Adaskaveg et al. 1991) The preferred development condition of W. extensa includes higher temperature, intensive illumination, lower humidity and sandy soil. The temperature requirement of basidospores production is from 18 to 26 oC. The germination of baisidospores requires temperature from 22 to 28 oC and the hyphae reproduction needs temperature from 18 to 35 oC.

This species was often found underground on roots of pine trees and conifers and it was also able to be cultivated on Chinese red pine trees. In the wild, the tuckahoe were often discovered under the ground of blasted pines and the growth of grasses in that particular area is not as well established as other locations because of allelopathy.

In China, the production of Fuling is mainly from two regions. Most of the wild Fuling are from Lijiang in Yunan Province, while the cultivated ones are mainly from Dabie Mountain, which mainly include three provinces. Production cities in this region include Luotian, Yingshan, and Macheng in Hubei Province, Yuexi, Huoshan and Jinzhai in Anhui Province, and Shangcheng in Henan Province. Depending on the regions where the Fuling is produced, its name is also slightly different. For example, the Fuling produced in Anhui province would be called Anling. Better known than Anling is Yunling produced in Yunnan Province. Besides the known and established Fuling production regions, some studies also indicated that the distribution was wider than currently known relying on the ecological factors and geographic information. (Wang et al. 2013)

In Wolf’s 1922 paper, W.extensa had already been discussed. Several previous studies showed that in America, the distribution of W. extensa could cover from New Jersey to Gulf of Mexico, west to Texas, and reaching north to Kansas, especially in sandy or light loamy soil. Frederick argued that W. extensa was associated only with pines, while others have different opinions, such as Lockwood, who found W. extensa in willow oak roots as well.

But because of the absence of knowledge of its identity as well limited information about the host relationship together with the confusion of names in herbarium collections, the distribution identified by those earlier studies were not satisfactory. Due to the limited studies, there is no up to date information about the geographic distribution in the United States.

Wolfiporia extensa is aterrestrial wood-decay fungus which have the resupinate fruiting bodies and is known as one of the 'brown rotters'. It isa fungus in the polyporaceae family and formerly known as the Poria cocos.The most distinguishable feature of this species is the coconut-shape sclerotium that have the tiny pores on its surface and it is usually found underground on roots of pine trees and conifers in wild. The sclerotium posses a dark brown skin and the inside is pink or white. In the United States, accoring to the limited literatures, the distribution of this speciesisfrom New Jersey to Gulf of Mexico, get as west as Texas, and reach far north to Kansas, especially in sandy or light loamy soil. In China,the production of Fuling is mainly from two regions. Most of the wild Fuling are from Lijiang in Yunan Province, while the cultivated ones are mainly from Dabie Mountain, which mainly include three provinces, Hunan, Anhui, Henan.

The sclerotium of W. extensa is called Tuckhoe (or Indian bread) and is considered as a food source during scarcity. Moreover, itwas used in herbal medicine prescriptions in ancient China and is belivedto improve water-discharging and damp-clearing of human body.Modern medicine studies have showed that some active ingredients of Fuling may have the functions of enhancing the immunity, anti-tumor and hepatoprotective effect.

W. extensa is a terrestrial wood-decay fungus which has resupinate fruiting bodies. The sporophores are white at the early stage and turn to tinged brown in age. The most distinguishable feature of this species is the coconut-shape sclerotium that possesses the hypogeous feature and tiny pores on its surface. At first, the hymenium is tough and later, after drying, becomes fragile. No cystidia or sterile margins were present. The basidia are blunt, club-shaped, 20-25 μ in length and 6-8 μ in width and crowned with four slender sterigmata. The basidospores are white in mass, asymmetrically cylindrical, smooth, and 7-8 x 3.5 μm.

The sclerotium of W. extensa (Fuling) is used in herbal medicine prescriptions in China. Fuling has a sweet, bland, flat taste and it can be used in herbal medicine to improve 'water-discharging' and 'damp-clearing' of human body. In addition, it was also believed to be beneficial to the functions of spleen and stomach. Modern medicine studies have showed that some active ingredients of Fuling have the functions of enhancing the immunity, anti-tumor and hepatoprotective effect.

The primary formation of Fuling is beta-glucan called pachyman, which makes up at least 75% of the fungal mass. Pachyman can be branched off into a β (1 → 3) glucose polysaccharide, called pachymaran (PPS), which is believed to have the anti-tumoractivity. Some researches that have been done on animals indicated that extracts of Fuling might have some other functions. The intraperitoneal injection of Fuling extract to mice can significantly reduce their spontaneous activity and efficiently against over- exicitement caused by caffeine. What’s more, the combination of some of the Fuling extract ingredient and ethanol can lower the blood sugar level and the heart contractions of frog. (Introductions to Fuling on Baidu Wenku)

Fuling is widely used in Chinese traditional food preparations, such as Poria cake, Poria chestnut porridge, Poria chicken ravioli, Poria and Mondo grassporridge, Poria wine, Poria cream and others.

Fuling has been recorded in Chinese medicine books as early as 200 BC. In this earliest Chinese medicine book that could be identified, Fuling was considered the top-grade tonic for every age. One of the most famous Chinese poet, Donpo Song, from Song Dynasty, was really fond of Fuling pie. He still maintained good health and amazing memory in his 60’s, which was believed to have certain relationship with his diet habit of having Fuling daily. And there was a famous story that related to Fuling. One legend was about Genghis Khan. According to this folktale, Genghis Khan’s troop was once got in trouble of illness because of unaccustomed climate, and someone in the army ate Fuling by accident and recovered. So Genghis Khan started to distribute this remedy to everyone, and cured all his soldiers which led him to win. Despite the fact folktale could always be exaggerate, these anecdotes could reflect the high cultural value back in ancient China. (information from Baidu Baike)

In Chinese Medicine theory, each part of Fuling would have its unique medical value, such as the cuticle its sclerotium could be used to eliminate edema. What is more, the light red part after peeling the cuticle has been identified with benefit to human’s spleen, and the part near the root could actually calm the nerves. (introduction from HuDong BaiKe)

The common name of W. extensa, hoelen, was derived from a botanical name, Pachyma hoelen, which was recorded by Georg Eberhard Rumpius in hisIndonesian herbs posthumouslypublished in 1741. Basionym of W. extensa was known as Daedalea extensa, which was given by Peck (1891). Due to the deficiency of information exchange, some early literatures also indicate that the first description of hoelen was done by Clayton in 1762 on a journal called Flora Virginica and he named it Lycoperdon solidum. Later, Walter (1788) named this species Lycoperdon cervimum. In 1817, MacBride used the name Sclerotium giganteum in his book to describe this species. Schweinitz described it as Sclerotium cocos in 1822. The next year, this species was published as Pachyma cocos by Fries (1823). In 1922, Wolf studied the morphology of this species and, based on the fact that it was polypore, renamed it Poria cocos. After 50 years, the name of this species was changed to Macrohyporia cocos in 1979. In 1983, the name of this mushroom was designated to be Macrohyporia extensa and, the next year, it changed to Wolfiporia cocos (the name Wolfiporia was used to honor Wolf and his works on this species). In 1984, this species as renamed as Wolfiporia extensa by Ginns, which was commonly accepted and did not change much in the following years. The species name, extensa, was firstused by Charles Peck in 1891 and brought forward. Among the Latin names, W. extensa and P. cocos are most frequently used.

Due to many tiny pores that exist on the surface, W. extensa belongs to the family Polyporaceae. According to the molecular works done by Lindner and Banik (2008), the closest relative to this species is Phaeolus schweinitzii. In their studies, the W. extensa was fell into theAntrodia clade, which is different from previous studies that placed W. extensain the core polyporoid clade.

Wolfiporia extensa (Peck) Ginns (syn. Poria cocos F.A.Wolf) is a fungus in the family Polyporaceae. It is a wood-decay fungus but has a subterranean growth habit. It is notable in the development of a large, long-lasting underground sclerotium that resembles a small coconut. This sclerotium called "(Chinese) Tuckahoe" or fu-ling (Chinese: 苓; pinyin: fúlíng), is not the same as the true tuckahoe used as Indian bread by Native Americans, which is the arrow arum, Peltandra virginica, a flowering tuberous plant in the arum family. W. extensa is also used extensively as a medicinal mushroom in Chinese medicine. Indications for use in the traditional Chinese medicine include promoting urination, to invigorate the spleen function (i.e., digestive function), and to calm the mind.

Wolfiporia extensa je grzib, co go nojprzōd ôpisoł Peck, a terŏźnõ nazwã doł mu Ginns 1984. Wolfiporia extensa nŏleży do zorty Wolfiporia i familije Polyporaceae. Żŏdne podgatōnki niy sōm wymianowane we Catalogue of Life.