Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst.
(Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst.; Photo gluckspilze.com and istockphoto.com)
Latin Name: Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst.
Family & Genus: Auriculariaceae, Auricularia
Synonym Name: Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst., Auricularia auricula (L. ex Hook.) Underw., Auricularia auricula-judae (Fr.) Quél., Auricularia auricula (L. ex Hooker) Underw., Auricularia auricula-judae (L.) Schroet., Hirneola auricula-judae (Bull. ex St.Amans) Berk.
English Name: Jew's Ear, Jelly Ear Fungus, (black) wood ear, jelly ear, pepeao, Cultivated Chinese fungus, Juda's ear, Cloud ear fungus, Szechwan fungus, Hunan fungus, Yunnan fungus.
Chinese : Hei mu er, Mu er, Yun er, Yün erh (Taiwanese), Yu er , Wàhn yih (Cantonese) , Mu er (medicinal name).
Danish : Judasøre.
Dutch : Judasoor.
Finnish : Juudaksenkorva.
French : Oreille de Judas, Champignon oreille de Chine.
German : Judasohr, Ohrpilz.
Italian : Orechietta di Giuda.
Japanese : Kikurage.
Norwegian : Judasøre .
Polish : Uszak bzowy.
Russian : Ushi iudiny.
Spanish : Oreja de Judas .
Swedish : Judasøra.
Viet Nam: Mộc nhĩ
Description: Fruiting body clustered, long imbricate superposed, usually multiple clustered thallus. Auricular or nearly cup-shaped, margin sinuate, red-brown, thin, 2-6cm wide, the largest up to 12cm, ca. 2mm thick, pleurogenous short stalk or narrow base fixative on stroma. First as soft translucent colloid, viscous and elastic, then slightly with cartilaginous, strongly contractive after drying, becomes black, hard and brittle horn to nearly leathery. Outside and back arch, purple-brown to dark cyan-grey, sparsely pubescent. Pubescent upwards acuminate, base brown, acute end nearly sessile, (115-135) μmx(5-6) μm. Inside concave, smooth or slightly with veinlike wrinkles, black-brown to brown. Bacterial context make up of lock-shaped joint hypha, ca. 2-3.5μm thick. Fruiting body layer borne inside, made up of basidium, basidiospores and paraphysis. Basidium long-cylindrical, sepultate at colloid layer on fruiting body, 60-70μm long, ca. 6μm thick, diaphragm prominent. Spores borne on basidium, reniform, colorless, (9-15) μmx(4-7) μm; conidiophores nearly spherical to ovate, (11-15) μmx(4-7) μm, colorless, usually borne on fruiting body.
Ecological: Growing in rotten broadleaved woods, such as oak, elm, poplar and locust tree, etc.
Distribution:
- Fairly frequent in Britain and Ireland as well as in most countries of mainland Europe and parts of Asia and North America, the Jelly Ear fungus is seen mainly, but certainly not exclusively, on dead Elder wood in damp, shady locations. This fungus is also found in many parts of Asia and in Australia.
- Distributed and cultivated artificially in all parts of China. The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Sichuan and Fujian. Also produced in other parts of China.
Part Used: Medical part: sporocarp, Jew’s Ear parasitized on tricuspid cudrania or Janpanese Weigela. Chinese name: Muer (sporocarp), Zhier (Jew’s Ear parasitized on tricuspid cudrania), Ynagluer (Jew’s Ear on Janpanese Weigela).
Harvest & Processing: Mu'er: collected in summer and autumn and dried in oast house, temperature level up from 35 ℃ to 60 ℃ and dried for standby application. Zhe Er (Jew's Ear parasitized on tricuspid cudrania): collected in summer and autumn, well washed and sun-dried. Yang Lu Er (Jew's Ear on Japanese Weigela): collected in summer and autumn, well washed and sun-dried.
Chemistry:
- Mu'er contains sporocarp contain agaric polysaccharide. Mycelium contains exopolysaccharide, ergosterol, provitamin D2 and ustilaginoidin, etc.
- Yields a high content of carbohydrates (approximately 63% of dried fruit bodies), proteins and minerals (Ca, P, and Fe). (21)
- Main monosaccharide composition of A. auricula polysaccharides is glucose (72%), mannose (8%), xylose (10%), and fructose (10%). (21)
- Main components of the cultivated fungus are ash 4.6%, protein 12.5%, fat 1.7%, carbohydrates 66.1% per dry matter. Gas liquid chromatography yielded a monosaccharide composition of dry biomass: glucose 15.0%, mannos 10.7%, xylose 1.5%, galactose 0.6%. It is a good source of all essential amino acids (34.7% of total) with the umami taste typical of mushrooms. It has an average calorific value of 327.7 kcal/100 g of dry matter. (25)
Pharmacology: Mu’er: antithrombin, entithrombus, anti-platelet aggregation, leukocyte-increasing, immunity-enhancing, the synthesis of nucleic acid and protein enhancing, blood-fat-reducing, senility-delaying, anti-radiation, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, blood-sugar-reducing, anti-breeding, anti-cancer and antibacteria; toxic.
- Anti-inflammatory Effects
An extract of wood ear was shown to be able to reduce a key part of the inflammatory response in an in vitro experiment using cultured mouse cells. Inflammation does not refer only to the swelling following an injury or an allergic reaction, but is rather a process by which the body responds to many types of stress but which also causes damage. Inflammation is part of the development of many different kinds of illness, so anti-inflammatories have broad medicinal applications.
- Antimicrobial Effects
Wood-ear polysacchardes, extracted but not otherwise processed, proved effective against two forms of pathogenic bacteria, but not against all forms of pathogen used in the test[vii]. The same study also found that wood-ear polysaccharides are antioxidant and can help with the chelation of metals.
- Anticoagulant Effects
Wood-ear polysaccharides also showed anti-coagulant effects similar to those of aspirin, both in vitro and in rats[viii]. Whether this species has anticoagulant properties when the whole mushroom is eaten, as one of its close relatives does (see section on side effects), seems unclear.
- Anti-cholesterol and Cardioprotective Effects
In one study, rats fed a high cholesterol diet remained much healthier if they were also given an extract of wood ear. In previous studies, anti-cholesterol properties had appeared to be associated with the species’ polysaccharides, but in this study polysaccharides were excluded from the extract, meaning they cannot be the only substance in the fungus capable of lowering cholesterol. Polyphenolic compounds appear to be responsible for the effect, either alone or in addition to the polysaccharides identified in the earlier study.
- Anti-cancer effects
An extract from wood ear was found effective against cancer cells of two different lines in in vitro tests. Curiously, although several specific substances within the fungus were found to have anti-cancer effects, none were as strong alone as an extract of the whole fungus.
- Nutritional Benefits
Wood ear doesn’t taste like much; it’s used in cooking for the chewy texture, and because it can take on the flavor of what it’s cooked with. Therefore serving sizes are quite small, closer to what you’d expect for a condiment or a garnish than for a vegetable. The fungus is not, therefore, a significant source of calories or energy, but it can be a significant source of both Vitamin B5 and copper, with smaller but still-helpful amounts of selenium and Vitamin B2. They contain no salt or fat—pretty good, for a condiment!
Properties & Actions: Agaric: taste sweet, neutral in nature. Agaric of Cudrania tricuspidata: taste sweet, neutral in nature. Agaric of Yanglu: taste little sweet, neutral in nature. Jew's ear: tonifying qi, enriching blood, moistening lung, checking cough, arresting bleeding, reducing hypertension, anti-cancer. Zhe Er (Jew's Ear parasitized on tricuspid cudrania): clearing lung, detoxifying, removing phlegm and checking cough. Yang Lu Er (Jew's Ear on Japanese Weigela): dissipating stasis and arresting bleeding.
Indications & Usage: Judas-ear: Used for deficiency of vital energy and hemophthisis, pulmonasthenia due to long term cough, coughing up blood, non-traumatic hemorrhage, hematodiarrhoea, piles and hemorrhage, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, hypertension, subhyaloid hemorrhage, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, injury pain from fall. Auricularia: Mainly indicated for cough and vomiting of pus and blood due to pulmonary abscesses, dry cough due to pulmonary dryness. Jew's ear on Japanese weigela: Mainly indicated for ecchymosis and hemagglutinin, abdominal masses, piles and hemorrhage. Mu’er: oral administration: decocting, 3-10g; or stewed; burned and half carbonized, keep the flavor, powdered. Zhi’er: oral administration: decocting, 9-12g, or made as pills or powders. Yanglu’er: oral administration: decocting, 10-12g, or stewed.
Examples: Jew's Ear:
1. Dry stool, hemorrhage due to hemorrhoids: jew's ear 5g, persimon cake 30g, cooked together, and eat.
2. Hypertension: jew's ear 15g, pidan 1, cook in water, and frequently drink to replace tea.
3. All toothaches: jew's ear and catnip of equal amounts. Decoct and gargle to stop pain.
Auricularia:
Pulmonary dry heat, dry cough, red tongue with less coat: auricularia, white jew's ear and crystal sugar 10g each, stew with clear water and eat once daily.
Jew's ear on Japanese weigela:
Hepatic and splenic mass: Jew's ear on Japanese weigela 10g, Prickly-pear (remove prickles) 12g, pig spleen and intestinal tract, stew soup and drink.
References
- libproject.hkbu.edu.hk
- efloras.org
- theplantlist.org
- healing-mushrooms.net
- first-nature.com
- Skin Wound Healing Promoting Effect of Polysaccharides Extracts from Tremella fuciformis and Auricularia auricula on the ex-vivo Porcine Skin Wound Healing Model / Ratchanee Khamlue, Nikhom Naksupan , Anan Ounaroon and Nuttawut Saelim / 2012 4th International Conference on Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering IPCBEE vol.43 (2012) / DOI: 10.7763/IPCBEE. 2012. V43. 20
- Chemical Composition and Nutritional Value of the Mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae / Irina A. Kadnikova, Rui Costa, Tatiana K. Kalenik, Olga N. Guruleva, Shi Yanguo / Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, Vol. 3, No. 8, 2015, pp 478-482. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-3-8-1
- Chen, G., Luo, Y., Ji, B., Li, B., Su, W., Xiao, Z., Zhang, G. (2011). Hypocholesterolemic Effects of Auricularia auricula Ethanol Extract in ICR Mice Fed a Cholesterol-enriched Diet. Journal of Food Science Technology 48(6): 692-698.
- Volk, T. (2004). Auricularia auricula-judae, Wood Ear or Cloud Ear Mushroom a.k.a. Judas’ Ear Fungus, in Honor of Easter. Tom’s Fungi website, accessed February 15, 2020.
- (2013). Auricularia auricula. Mushroom Nutrition website, accessed February 15, 2020.
- Damte, D., Reza, M. A., Lee, S., Jo, W., Park, S. (2011). Anti-infammatory Activity of Dichloromethane Extract of Auricularia auricula-judae in RAW264.7 Cells. Toxicological Research 27(1): 11-14.
- Cai, M., Lin, Y., Luo, Y.L., Liang, H.H., Sun, P.L. (2015). Extraction, Antimicrobial, and Antioxidant Activities of Crude Polysaccharides from the Wood Ear Medicinal Mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae (Higher Basidiomycetes). International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 17(6): 591-600.
- Yoon, S., Yu, M., Pyun, Y., Hwang, J. (2003). The Nontoxic Mushroom Auricularia auricula Contains a Polysaccharide with Anticoagulant Activity Mediated by Antithromin. Thrombosis Research 112(3): 151-8.
- Reza, M.A., Hossain, M.A., Lee, S.J., Yohanness, S.B., Damte, D., Rhee, M.H., Jo, W.S., Suh, J.W., Park, S.C. (2014). Dichlormethane Extract of the Jelly Ear Mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae (Higher Basidiomycetes) Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth in Vitro. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 16(1): 37–47.
