https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Macrocybe_giganteaMacrocybe gigantea - Revision history2026-10-29T02:33:30ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Macrocybe_gigantea&diff=514257&oldid=prevMarinawxb: started a info!2025-06-09T15:54:20Z<p>started a info!</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Species of fungus}}<br />
{{Speciesbox<br />
| image = <br />
| taxon = Macrocybe gigantea<br />
| authority = ([[George Edward Massee|Massee]]) [[David Pegler|Pegler]] & Lodge (1998)<br />
}}<br />
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'''''Macrocybe gigantea''''' is a species of [[mushroom]]-forming [[fungus]] that is native to India ([[West Bengal]]), Pakistan, and Nepal.<ref name=Pegler1998/><br />
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== Taxonomy ==<br />
The English botanist [[George Edward Massee]] described this species as ''Tricholoma giganteum'' in 1912 from material collected in [[Shyamnagar, West Bengal]], by [[Isaac Henry Burkill|Ethel Maud Burkill]]<!-- his wife! --> in 1911.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Massee |first1=George Edward |title=Fungi Exotici - XIV |journal=Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) |date=1912 |volume=1912 |issue=6 |pages=253–255 [254] |doi=10.2307/4104579 |jstor=4104579 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11630197|doi-access=free }}</ref> ''[[Tricholoma]]'' was a [[wastebasket taxon]]; the species was moved into the new genus ''[[Macrocybe]]'' in 1998.<ref name=Pegler1998/> Specimens currently classified as ''M. gigantea'' from Pakistan and China were more closely related to each other than specimens from India.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5943/mycosphere/7/4/11|title=An Asian edible mushroom, ''Macrocybe gigantea'': its distribution and ITS-rDNA based phylogeny|year=2016|last1=Razaq|first1=A.|journal=Mycosphere|volume=7|issue=4|pages=525–530|doi-access=free}}</ref><br />
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== Description ==<br />
The mushroom has a smooth [[pileus (mycology)|cap]] that is conical when young before expanding flattening out and can reach 30–35&nbsp;cm in diameter. It is variable in colour, initially white before ageing to light grey, paler at the margin. The crowded sinuate [[lamella (mycology)|gills]] are yellow. The cylindrical [[stipe (mycology)|stipe]] is 15–18 cm high by 6 cm wide and is the same colour as the cap. The firm white [[trama (mycology)|flesh]] is up to 3 cm thick under the cap. The [[spore print]] is white. The oval spores measure 5.7&ndash;7.5&nbsp;μm long by 4.0&ndash;5.3&nbsp;μm wide.<ref name=Pegler1998/><!-- cites para --> <br />
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== Ecology ==<br />
In West Bengal, ''M. gigantea'' grows in groups or sometimes [[fairy ring]]s in shady or grassy areas, or in association with [[angiosperm]] trees.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00543.1|title=Contribution to the Macromycetes of West Bengal, India: 18–22|year=2017|last1=Acharya|first1=Krishnendu|last2=Tarafder|first2=Entaj|last3=Pradhan|first3=Prakash|last4=Dutta|first4=Arun Kumar|last5=Paloi|first5=Soumitra|last6=Datta|first6=Moumita|last7=Roy|first7=Anirban|journal=Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology|volume=10|issue=9|page=3061|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''M. gigantea'' has been found growing on elephant dung in [[Kerala]] state in India.<ref name=manimohan>{{cite journal |last1=Manimohan | first1=Patinjareveettil | last2= Thomas | first2=K. Agretious | last3= Nisha | first3=V.S. | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237849003 | volume=99 |pages=147–157 | title=Agarics on elephant dung in Kerala State, India |journal=Mycotaxon | year=2007}}</ref><br />
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== Relationship with humans ==<br />
Known locally as ''Boro dhoodh chhatu'', roughly translated as "smells like milk when dried", ''M. gigantea'' is picked and sold at roadside markets in central and coastal West Bengal and cooked in mustard oil and spices.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dutta |first1=Arun Kumar |last2=Acharya |first2=Krishnendu |title=Traditrional and ethno-medicinal knowledge of mushrooms in West Bengal, India |journal=Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research |date=2014 |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=1–6 | issn=0974-2441}}</ref> In [[Tripura]], the local [[Tripuri people]] also collect and eat this mushroom.<ref>{{cite journal |issue=1 |doi=10.5943/sif/2/1/3|title=Proximate composition and antimicrobial activity of three wild edible mushrooms consumed by ethnic inhabitants of Tripura in northeast India|year=2017|last1=Roy Das|first1=A.|journal=Studies in Fungi|volume=2|pages=17–25|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''M. gigantea'' is able to be cultivated, with investigations showing that [[pearl millet]] (''Cenchrus americanus'') is a promising substrate.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.31018/jans.v13i1.2547|title=Suitability of three different cereal grains for spawn development and their impact on the growth and yield of Macrocybe gigantea (Massee) Pegler & Lod|year=2021|last1=Devi|first1=Sapna|last2=Sumbali|first2=Geeta|journal=Journal of Applied and Natural Science|volume=13|pages=204–209|doi-access=free}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist|refs=<br />
<ref name=Pegler1998>{{cite journal |last1=Pegler | first1= David N. | last2= Lodge | first2=D.Jean | last3= Nakasone | first3= Karen K. |title=The Pantropical Genus ''Macrocybe'' Gen. nov. |journal=Mycologia |year=1998 | volume=90 | issue=3 |page=494 |doi= 10.2307/3761408| jstor=3761408 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271783311}}</ref><br />
}}<br />
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q10573661}}<br />
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[[Category:Tricholomataceae]]<br />
[[Category:Fungi of India]]<br />
[[Category:Fungi of Pakistan]]<br />
[[Category:Fungi described in 1912]]<br />
[[Category:Fungus species]]</div>Marinawxb