Bad-smelling Alkanet vs Common Rustgill

Alkanna maleolens compared with Gymnopilus penetrans

Key Differences

• Bad-smelling Alkanet is Critically Endangered while Common Rustgill is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bad-smelling Alkanet	Common Rustgill
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Fungi (Fungi)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)
Order	Boraginales (Boraginales)	Agaricales (Gilled Mushrooms)
Family	Boraginaceae	Hymenogastraceae
Genus	Alkanna	Gymnopilus
Species	Alkanna maleolens	Gymnopilus penetrans

Conservation Status

Bad-smelling Alkanet

CR — Critically Endangered

Common Rustgill

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bad-smelling Alkanet	Common Rustgill
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bad-smelling Alkanet

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Common Rustgill

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

Bad-smelling Alkanet

The Bad-smelling Alkanet (Alkanna maleolens) is a species in the genus Alkanna. It is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Common Rustgill

<em>Gymnopilus penetrans</em>, the common rustgill, is a saprotrophic basidiomycete fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae, commonly found across temperate regions of Europe and beyond. It has been recorded in Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, typically fruiting on decaying conifer wood, stumps, buried roots, and woody debris in forests and woodland habitats. The fruiting bodies are small to medium-sized mushrooms with tawny orange to rust-brown caps, typically 2–7 centimeters in diameter, and bright rusty-orange gills that give the species its common name. The stem is similarly colored and typically fibrous. As a wood-decaying fungus, common rustgill plays an important ecological role in the decomposition of dead conifer timber and the recycling of nutrients in forest ecosystems. The species produces minute, roughened, rusty-brown spores. It is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The common rustgill typically fruits from late summer through autumn. It may occasionally be confused with related <em>Gymnopilus</em> species; some members of the genus contain potentially toxic or psychoactive compounds, though <em>G. penetrans</em> is generally considered of low toxicity. Biological traits such as average lifespan and detailed dietary substrate specificity remain poorly documented in comprehensive ecological databases.