''Craterellus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of generally

edible An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...

fungi similar to the closely related chanterelles, with some new species recently moved from the latter to the former. Both groups lack true

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

on the underside of their caps, though they often have gill-like wrinkles and ridges.

General

The three most common species, '' Cr. cornucopioides'', '' Cr. lutescens'' and '' Cr. tubaeformis'', are gathered commercially and, unlike ''

Cantharellus ''Cantharellus'' is a genus of popular edible mushrooms, commonly known as chanterelles, a name which can also refer to the type species, '' Cantharellus cibarius''. They are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form symbiotic associations with plant ...

'', can be easily preserved by drying.

Molecular phylogenetics Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

have been applied to the problem of discriminating between ''Craterellus'' and ''Cantharellus'' genera. Results indicate that the presence of a hollow stipe may be a

synapomorphy In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to hav ...

(a trait corresponding to the evolutionary relationship) which reliably identifies ''Craterellus'' species. ''Cr. cornucopioides'' appears to be a single polymorphic species, while ''Cr. tubaeformis'' may be two separate genetic groups separated by geography.

Definition of the genus

The genera ''Craterellus'' and ''Cantharellus'' have always been recognized as closely related. The whole group may be recognized by their lack of division into cap and stipe, and their rudimentary or missing

("false gills"). Originally ''Cantharellus'' was defined by

Fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

in 1821 to mean all these species together and then in 1825 Persoon separated some species off to create the Craterellus group, with '' Cr. cornucopioides'' as

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 specime ...

. Since then some authorities have tried to merge the two genera again, but DNA studies now indicate that (with recent changes) each genus is monophyletic, and so they are likely to remain separate. In the past ''Craterellus'' was distinguished on the basis that #the fruiting body had a hollow stipe, generally being funnel-shaped, and #there were no

clamp connections A clamp connection is a hook-like structure formed by growing hyphal cells of certain fungi. It is a characteristic feature of Basidiomycetes fungi. It is created to ensure that each cell, or segment of hypha separated by septa (cross walls), rece ...

. But phylogenetic DNA work starting with the 2000 paper of Dahlman et al. has shown that some species traditionally placed in ''Cantharellus'' (''C. tubaeformis'', ''C. ignicolor'' and ''C. lutescens'') really belong in ''Craterellus'', and this means that the second distinguishing rule is no longer valid. On the other hand, the first rule holds up well.

Species

The taxonomy of these fungi is in a state of flux (particularly due to DNA analysis) and many earlier names are now disputed. The following table gives some of the most important ones. Numerous species of ''Cantharellus'' have at times been classified under ''Craterellus'', but these are mostly excluded from the table. See also the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

at right for a portrayal of the relationships between the species based on recent evidence.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2097845 Cantharellales Edible fungi Agaricomycetes genera Taxa named by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon