A study onMerulius similis B. & BR. and the associated bamboo-rot

TL;DR: The high moisture-content of the fruit-body, its soft fleshy nature, its occurrence in damp situations, its absence in higher altitudinal areas, and its sudden appearance at the onset of monsoon and eventual disappearance after a brief period of existence seem to indicate its definite relationship with environmental conditions, particularly temperature and rainfall.

Abstract: In this country Meruliu8 similis B. & B~., an interesting member of Hymenomycetes grows in association with bamboo clumps. At first it has been recorded to grow on an unidentified wood (BEI~KEL~u and Bt~ooM~, 1875) but later its occurrence only at the bases of bamboo stumps has been reported by several workers (PE~c~, 1910; Bos~, 1921; BA:~ERJEE and BAKSKI, 1945). As such Bambusa bambos DRVOE can so far be assigned as its singular host species. The distribution of the fungus also appears to be very limited. I t has been reported from Portuguese Guinea, Malaya Peninsula, Ceylon and India suggesting its distribution only in the tropical countries. The highest altitude from which it has been collected is almost 3281' above the sea level. In Bengal, its large, soft, fleshy and resupinate to effuso-reflexed fruit bodies with oehreaeeous hymenial surface are abundantly formed during the rainy seasons (July-September) but abruptly disappear at the end of the season. This short span of life' of fructification seems peculiar when contrasted with several other commonly occurring persistent wood-rotting fungi. The high moisture-content of the fruit-body, its soft fleshy nature, its occurrence in damp situations, its absence in higher altitudinal areas, its sudden appearance at the onset of monsoon and eventual disappearance after a brief period of existence, seem to indicate its definite relationship with environmental conditions, particularly temperature and rainfall. The identical conditions of average