Polypore diversity in China with an annotated checklist of Chinese polypores

This report is a comprehensive review of polypore investigations in China up to 2011. Nearly 12,000 polypore specimens have been collected from almost all forest types in China during the past 20 years. After examination of these and other herbarium specimens, 704 polypore species belonging to 132 genera in ten orders were identified, and the majority of them found to belong in the orders Polyporales (accounting for 65% of the total Chinese polypores) and Hymenochaetales (25%). According to the author’s investigations, 148 species are boreal, 390 are temperate, 395 are subtropical, and 220 are tropical in distribution. The majority of the Chinese polypores are white rot fungi, whereas 98 species (14%) cause a brown rot; 520 species (74%) were found on angiosperm wood, of which 434 species (62%) grew exclusively on angiosperm wood; 459 species (65%) were found on fallen trunks, which seem to be the most frequent substrate for polypores. Based on field investigations and collections, 223, 267, and 214 species are considered as common, occasional, and rare, respectively, and they subsequently account for 32%, 38%, and 30% of the total Chinese polypores. The host, substratum, distribution, and occurrence of each species are listed.