Habitat

Omphalotus nidiformis can be found in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and the island of Tasmania. It can be found at the base in terrestrial, eucalypt, or pine forests, as well as parks and gardens. Referencing the picture below, Victoria has the largest amount of O. nidiformis found in its territory.

 

In one experiment, Australian macrofungi were tested for cytotoxic activity-including Omphalotus nidiformis (Beattie and Ulrich et. al 2010) Scientists collected the organism from their differing habitats, cleaned the dirt off, and got them on ice as soon as possible after cutting them. All fungi were tested against a normal mouse fibroblast cells and five human cell lines from different areas of the body. Species from the 13 genera were successfully extracted three times generating hot water, cold water, and ethanolic extracts. The organisms were then organized into three categories based on how they reacted to each cell line. These categories are selective cancer cell cytotoxic activity, high non-selective cytotoxic activity, and low or no cytotoxic activity. This organism, O. nidiformis tested into the high non-selective cytotoxic activity due to its high cytotoxicity against the human cells lines-meaning it would be too toxic to put help fight cancer cells, putting the patient in even more risk. (Beattie and Ulrich 2010)

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