''Leucangium'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The defi ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

. The genus was circumscribed by French mycologist

Lucien Quélet Lucien Quélet in 1869 Lucien Quélet (14 July 1832 – 25 August 1899) was a French naturalist and mycologist. Quélet discovered several species of fungi and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycolo ...

in 1883. Although classified in the Helvellaceae in the past (''e.g.'', in ''Dictionary of the Fungi'', 10th edition, 2008),

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

analysis indicates it is closely related to the genus ''

Fischerula ''Fischerula'' is a genus of two truffle-like fungi in the family Morchellaceae. First described from central Italy by Oreste Mattirolo in 1928, the genus name honors Swiss mycologist Eduard Fischer. The type species ''Fischerula macrospora'' is ...

'' and ''

Imaia ''Imaia'' is a fungal genus in the family Morchellaceae found in Japan, and in the Appalachian Mountains of the US. A monotypic genus, ''Imaia'' was circumscribed in 2008 by James Martin Trappe and Gábor M. Kovácsto to contain the truffle-li ...

'', and therefore must be placed in the

Morchellaceae The Morchellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi in the order Pezizales. According to a standard reference work, the family has contained at least 49 species distributed among four genera. However, in 2012, five genera that produce ascoma ...

. The genus includes two species, ''

Leucangium ophthalmosporum ''Leucangium'' is a genus of ascomycete fungi. The genus was circumscribed by French mycologist Lucien Quélet in 1883. Although classified in the Helvellaceae in the past (''e.g.'', in ''Dictionary of the Fungi'', 10th edition, 2008), molecular ...

'' Quél. (the type of the genus) and '' L. carthusianum'' (Tul. & C. Tul.) Paol., and both of them produce

sequestrate Sequestrate may refer to: *pertaining either to secotioid Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started ...

(fully or partly underground)

ascoma An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mos ...

, globose to ellipsoidal

ascus An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

(

inamyloid In mycology a tissue or feature is said to be amyloid if it has a positive amyloid reaction when subjected to a crude chemical test using iodine as an ingredient of either Melzer's reagent or Lugol's solution, producing a blue to blue-black stain ...

and eight-spored), and dark olive-colored to grayish green, smooth, fusiform

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

References

External links

* Morchellaceae Pezizales genera {{Pezizomycetes-stub