''Handkea'' is a genus of

puffball Puffballs are a type of fungus featuring a ball-shaped fruit body that bursts on impact, releasing a cloud of dust-like spores when mature. Puffballs belong to the division Basidiomycota and encompass several genera, including '' Calvatia'', '' ...

mushrooms in the family

Agaricaceae The Agaricaceae are a family of basidiomycete fungi and include the genus ''Agaricus'', as well as basidiomycetes previously classified in the families Tulostomataceae, Lepiotaceae, and Lycoperdaceae. Taxonomy The family Agaricaceae was publishe ...

. In 1989, German mycologist Hanns Kreisel described the genus ''Handkea'' to include species of ''

Calvatia ''Calvatia'' is a genus of puffball mushrooms that includes the spectacular giant puffball ''C. gigantea''. It was formerly classified within the now-obsolete order Lycoperdales, which, following a restructuring of fungal taxonomy brough ...

'' with distinct microscopic features, including a unique type of

capillitium Capillitium (pl. capillitia) is a mass of sterile fibers within a fruit body interspersed among spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended p ...

(coarse thick-walled hyphae in the

gleba Gleba (, from Latin ''glaeba, glēba'', "lump") is the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of certain fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn. The gleba is a solid mass of spores, generated within an enclosed area within the sporocarp. The contin ...

), with curvy slits instead of the usual pores. Although accepted by some authors, the genus concept has been rejected by others. The genus name of ''Handkea'' is in honour of Horst-Herbert Handke (1913-2005), who was a German botanist and Professor at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses published in 2008 shows that ''Handkea'' may be grouped in a clade along with species from several other genera, including ''

Lycoperdon ''Lycoperdon'' is a genus of puffball mushrooms. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 50 species. In general, it contains the smaller species such as the pear-shaped puffball and the gem-studded puffball. It was formerly cla ...

'', '' Vascellum'', '' Morganella'', ''

Bovistella ''Bovistella'' is a genus of puffball fungi in the family Agaricaceae. The genus was circumscribed by mycologist Andrew Price Morgan in 1892. Species , the nomenclatural authority Index Fungorum accepts 20 species in ''Bovistella'': See also * ...

'', and ''

''.

Species

References

External links

* * Lycoperdaceae Agaricales genera Puffballs {{Agaricales-stub