Name: Serpula in Latin means creeping, lacrymans meaning tears.
Names: Boletus lacrymans; Merulius destruens; Merulius lacrymans.
Clades:
Boletales.
Region: Himalayas, Northern California, Czech Republic, east Asia.
Mycology: causes damage to timber, dry rot; preference for temperatures of ± 21 C; grows near ventilation shafts, with a preference for concentrated oxygen, moisture content of ± 35%; needs calcium and iron ions extracted from plaster, brick, and stone to aid the breakdown of wood; common indoor biodeterioration agent; most damaging destroyer of indoor wood construction materials in temperate regions.
TaxonomyThe species was first described under the name Boletus lacrymans by Franz Xavier von Wulfen in 1781. Petter Karsten transferred it to the genus Serpula in 1884.