''Urnula'' 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 ...

cup fungi The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as cup fungi) are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tend to grow in the shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surface of the fruit body (mushroom). The cup shape typ ...

in the family Sarcosomataceae, circumscribed by

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired ...

in 1849. The genus contains several species found in Asia, Europe, Greenland, and North America. Sarcosomataceae fungi produce dark-colored (brown to black), shallow to deep funnel-shaped fruitbodies with or without a stipe, growing in spring. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus is ''

Urnula craterium ''Urnula craterium'' is a species of cup fungus in the family Sarcosomataceae. It is parasitic on oak and various other hardwood species; it is also saprobic, as the fruit bodies develop on dead wood after it has fallen to the ground. Appeari ...

'', commonly known as the devil's urn or the gray urn. ''Urnula'' species can grow as

saprobe Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

s or

parasites Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...

having an

anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

state. The anamorphic form of ''U. craterium'' causes Strumella canker, on

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

trees.

Taxonomy

circumscribed the new genus ''Urnula'' in 1849, and set what was then known as ''Peziza craterium'' as the

. The

name means "little

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

"; the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' cratera'', referring to a type of bowl used in antiquity.

Description

Imperfect states

The

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring *Life-cycle hypothesis, ...

of ''Urnula craterium'' allows for both an

imperfect The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...

(making asexual spores, or

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

) or perfect (making sexual spores) form; as has often happened in fungal

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

, the imperfect form was given a different name, because the relationship between the perfect and imperfect forms of the same species was not then known. The imperfect stage of ''Urnula craterium'' is the

plant pathogen Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...

ic species ''Conoplea globosa'', known to cause a

canker A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticultur ...

disease (Strumella canker) of

and several other

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

Species

*'' U. craterium'' (Schwein.) Fr. (1851) *'' U. groenlandica'' Dissing (1981) – Greenland *'' U. helvelloides'' Donadini, Berthet & Astier (1973) *'' U. hiemalis'' Nannf. (1949) – Northern Europe; Alaska *'' U. mediterranea'' (M.Carbone, Agnello & Baglivo) M.Carbone, Agnello & P.Alvarado (2013) *'' U. mexicana'' *'' U. padeniana'' M.Carbone, Agnello, A.D.Parker & P.Alvarado (2013) *'' U. philippinarum'' Rehm (1914) – Philippines *'' U. torrendii'' Boud. (1911) – Europe *'' U. versiformis'' Y.Z.Wang & C.L.Huang (2014) – Taiwan *'' U. viridirubescens'' (Bagnis) Boud. (1907) The European species provisionally named ''Urnula brachysperma'' by François Brunelli in 1997 is not yet validly published. Several species once classified in ''Urnula'' have since been transferred to other genera in the Sarcosomataceae or the

Chorioactidaceae The Chorioactidaceae are a family of cup fungi The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as cup fungi) are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tend to grow in the shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surf ...

. Peck's 1894 ''Urnula geaster'' is now type species of the genus '' Chorioactis'', while ''Urnula pouchetii'' Berthet & Riousset 1965 in now in '' Neournula'' (Chorioactidaceae). ''Urnula lusitanica'', published in 1911 by Torrend and Boudier, is now '' Donadinia lusitanica''. ''Urnula megalocrater'' Malençon & Le Gal 1958, ''Urnula platensis'' Speg. 1898, and ''Urnula rugosa'' Le Gal 1958 are now all classified in the genus ''

Plectania ''Plectania'' is a genus of fungi in the family Sarcosomataceae. There are 15 species in the genus, which have a widespread distribution, especially in northern temperate areas. ''Plectania'' was circumscribed by German botanist Karl Wilhelm Got ...

''.

Habitat and distribution

''Urnula'' species can grow as

s or

having an

state. Fruitbodies of ''U. craterium'' and ''U. hiemalis'' tend to persist in one location for many growing seasons, sometimes even for several decades.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4006482 Pezizales genera Pezizales Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries Taxa described in 1849