''Clavulina'' is a
genus of
fungus in the family
Clavulinaceae
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid (club and coral) fungi as well as some corticioid (crust- and patch-forming) fungi. These spec ...
, in the Cantharelloid
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
(order
Cantharellales). Species are characterized by having extensively branched
fruit bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life c ...
, white
spore prints, and bisterigmate
basidia (often with secondary
septation
In biology, a septum (Latin for ''something that encloses''; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate.
Examples
Human anatomy
* Interatri ...
). Branches are cylindrical or flattened, blunt, and pointed or crested at the apex, hyphae with or without clamps, basidia cylindrical to narrowly clavate, mostly with two sterigmata which are large and strongly incurved and spores subspherical or broadly ellipsoid, smooth, and thin-walled, each with one large oil drop or guttule.
[ The genus contains approximately forty-five species with a worldwide distribution, primarily in tropical regions.][ Species of ''Clavulina'' are mostly ecto]mycorrhiza
A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...
l. A recent study has identified Clavulina to the genera level as present on ''Nothofagus menziesii'' adventitious roots[Orlovich et al, 2013 Piracy in the high trees: ectomycorrhizal fungi from an aerial 'canopy soil' microhabitat]
Species
*'' C. alutaceosiccescens''
*'' C. amazoensis''
*'' C. amethystina''
*'' C. amethystinoides''
*'' C. arcuatus''
*'' C. brunneocinerea''
*'' C. caespitosa''
*'' C. cartilaginea''
*'' C. cavipes''
*'' C. cerebriformis''
Distribution
''Clavulina'' species are important primary colonizers of forest litter, and occur immediately after the pre-monsoon showers. Two species of ''Clavulina'' – ''C. coralloides''(known as white or crested coral fungus) and ''C. rugosa'' – have been recorded from the moist-deciduous to evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, Kerala, India.[
]
References