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Nutrition type

Saprotroph

Shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus)

Saprotrophic fungi (or saprophytes) are organisms that have evolved to specialize in breaking down and consuming dead, non-living organic matter.

They do not kill anyone (like parasites) and do not enter into mutually beneficial trade deals (like mycorrhizal fungi). Their food is whatever has already lived its life: fallen leaves, rotting stumps and trunks, sawdust, compost, straw and even animal dung.

24 species in the database.

Ecological role

As M.Ya. Zerova emphasizes, saprotrophs are the most important link in the Earth's carbon cycle. If saprotrophic fungi disappeared from the forest, within a few decades the planet would be covered in a kilometer-thick layer of dead leaves and undecomposed trees. Only fungi have powerful enzymes capable of fully breaking down super-tough lignin and cellulose (which wood is made of), turning them into soft, fertile humus.

The main edible saprotrophs

For foragers and growers, saprotrophs are the most desirable group of mushrooms, because they are not tied to living trees and can be found anywhere (or grown yourself):

1. Agaricus mushrooms (Agaricus): Classic soil saprotrophs. They feed on humus in meadows, pastures, forests and on manure heaps. That is why Agaricus makes up 90% of the world's commercial mushroom production — it is easy to grow in cellars on a mix of straw and chicken manure.

2. Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus): A wood saprotroph. It grows only on dead stumps or standing dead trees. It is grown on a large scale on farms in bags filled with damp straw, sunflower husks or sawdust.

3. Parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera): Grows on forest edges, meadows and pastures, feeding on decomposed organic matter in the soil.

4. Velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes): Grows in winter, exclusively on dead or badly frost-damaged, dying wood.

Questions and answers

If a mushroom grows on a dung heap, is it dirty and poisonous?
No. Some saprotrophs (so-called coprophiles) specialize in breaking down dung (for example, some Agaricus species or ink caps). The mycelium works as a perfect filter — it draws only clean carbohydrates, nitrogen and minerals from the dung, forming a completely clean, sterile fruiting body.
How can you tell whether a tree has a parasite (dangerous for the garden) or a saprotroph?
If a bracket fungus or honey fungus has appeared on your living, healthy apple tree that bears plenty of fruit, it is a parasite, and the tree is in trouble. If a mushroom (for example, an oyster mushroom or velvet shank) has grown on an already dry stump of a tree cut down last year, it is a saprotroph — it is simply turning the stump into fertilizer and poses no threat to the healthy trees in your garden.

Sources

  1. 1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
  2. 2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
  3. 3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
  4. 4.Index Fungorum