Few works have described cultural characters or the type of rot
caused by Gymnopilus species. Murrill (1940) mentioned that the
type specimen of G. armillatus Murrill was found causing a whitish
decay ina living red gumtree (Liquidambar styraciflua L.). Gilbertson
(1980) described cultural features of Gymnopilus sapineus (Fr.)
Maire and recorded it as a brown-rot fungus. Fausto-Guerra et al.,
2002 observed that many Gymnopilus strains could grow on lignin
media and give positive results on phenol oxidase reactions. These
results indicate that Gymnopilus decomposes cellulose but also has
the ability to decay lignin. For this reason the genus has been
reported both as of white and brown-rot. Sede and López (1999)
described a strain of G. spectabilis var. pampeanus (Speg.) Singer
[=G. pampeanus (Speg.) Singer], obtained from a standing Eucalyptus
in Argentine, based on Noble’s method (Nobles, 1965). They
observed positive results for oxidase reactions (gallic acid +++;tanic
acid +++; tyrosine ++; paracresol +++; guaiacol −). Based on the
results of degradation obtained in this work, we support the idea
of considering G. pampeanus as white rot fungi.
In conclusion, it was possible to determine some optimal conditions
for the production G. pampeanus being this the first report of
the cultivation of this mushroom on sawdust wastes. The optimal