Family: Podaxaceae

Botanical name: Podaxis pistillaris

Common name: False shaggy mane

Other names: Khumbi

Distribution: Arid and semi-arid regions

Habit and Habitat: Deserts and semi-deserts

Description :

The hyphae remains subsurface. The fruiting body grows up to 15 cm high 1-4 cm across, oval or cylindric with rounded apex; fragile, leathery, and woody at maturity. It has a hard, pale to brown woody stem. The fruiting body (cap) protects the blackish spore-bearing tissue, which splits and falls away at maturity thereby released the spores free. The surface is dry, pure white to tan, yellow-brown or brown. The interior of fruiting body is not composed of crowded, deliquescing gills; instead, it consists of poorly formed, contorted, gill-like plates that eventually erode into a very dark brown or nearly black spore powder.

Note: Used in the treatment of inflammation (Mao, 2000), skin diseases (Gupta and Singh, 1991) and as antimicrobial agents.