Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 29, 2012



Armillaria luteobubalina is a species of mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. Widely distributed in southern Australia, the fungus is responsible for a disease known as Armillaria root rot, a primary cause of Eucalyptus tree death and forest dieback. It is the most pathogenic and widespread of the six Armillaria species found in Australia. The fruit bodies, which appear at the base of infected trees and other woody plants in autumn (March–April), are edible, but require cooking to remove the bitter taste. The fungus is dispersed through spores produced on gills on the underside of the caps and by growing vegetatively through the root systems of host trees. Armillaria luteobubalina was first described in 1978, after having been discovered several years earlier growing in a Eucalyptus plantation in southeastern Australia. Studies show that the spread of disease in eucalypt forests is associated with infected stumps left following logging operations. (more...)

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