Polyporaceae s.l. in Italia. 1990. illus. (some col.). 594 p. gr8vo. Paper bd. - In Italian.

The polypores are an important and conspicuous group of fungi. Firstly, they attack living and dead trees and wooden material. By doing this they are partly the cause of extensive economic losses both in the forestry and building industry. Secondly, however, they also play an important role in the forest ecosystem by returning the nutrients in dead plant material back to the system making it available to other organisms. Further, as most other species of fungi, they produce a number of chemical substances during their growth, partly to defend and compete with other fungi and bacteria, partly to transform the substrate to a more digestible form. Many such chemical compounds are valuable, as an example it is only necessary to mention the whole group of antibiotics described and used since Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin. In addition, recently there has been, especially among the wood inhabiting fungi like the polypores, an intensive search for the enzymes used to degrade the wood. Such substances may play a ver yimportant role in the paper and pulp industry since this industry partly dissolve a part of the wood (like the fungi) on its way to produce paper. If a biological paper-producing process can be found, the industry will be able to solve a number of environmental problems.

Good second hand copy.