The Cortinariaceae are a large

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of gilled mushrooms found worldwide, containing over 2100 species. The family takes its name from its largest genus, the varied species of the genus ''

Cortinarius ''Cortinarius'' is a globally distributed genus of mushrooms in the family Cortinariaceae. It is suspected to be the largest genus of agarics, containing over 2,000 widespread species. A common feature among all species in the genus ''Cortinari ...

''. Many genera formerly in the Cortinariaceae have been placed in various other families, including

Hymenogastraceae The Hymenogastraceae is a family of fungi in the order Agaricales with both agaric and false- truffle shaped fruitbodies. Formerly, prior to molecular analyses, the family was restricted to the false-truffle genera. The mushroom genus ''Psilocy ...

Inocybaceae The Inocybaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Members of this family have a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate areas. Taxonomy The type genus of the Inocybaceae, ''Inocybe'', had traditionally been placed within ...

and

Bolbitiaceae The Bolbitiaceae are a family of mushroom-forming basidiomycete fungi. A 2008 estimate placed 17 genera and 287 species in the family. Bolbitiaceae was circumscribed by mycologist Rolf Singer in 1948. Description This family is of mushroom-form ...

. The deadly toxin orellanine has been found in at least 34 Cortinariaceae.

Taxonomic details

Cortinariaceae is a family of mushrooms within the Order

Agaricales The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms (for their distinctive gills) or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13,000 described species, a ...

. The spore producing

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others som ...

is located on the gills. The

pileipellis The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fruit body. It covers the trama, the fleshy tissue of the fruit body. The pileipellis is more or less synonymous with the cuticle, but the cuticle generally describes t ...

is a cutis. The spores are brown in deposit and, in most genera in this family, the spores are ornamented.

Differences in genera

'' are mushrooms with warted spores, which are rusty-brown in deposit. Mushrooms in this genus have a partial veil which is a cortina. These mushrooms are terrestrial and

mycorrhizal 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 plan ...

, and can range from small to large and fleshy.

Edibility

Despite the vast number of species in Cortinariaceae, this group is not widely eaten, and is generally avoided. There are many toxic species in this group and few are highly prized. ''Cortinarius'' is one of the largest mushroom families, but due to the large amount of inedible and

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

species, most authors recommend not eating any ''Cortinarius''. At one point, the Polish ate the fool's webcap, '' Cortinarius orellanus'', until people began to get poisoned from eating the mushroom. It is now known that several ''Cortinarius'' species contain a deadly toxin, orellanine, which causes kidney failure. Most ''Cortinarius'' are either too small or unpleasant-tasting to eat, but some, such as the gypsy mushroom ('' Cortinarius caperatus'') and the large and tasty '' Cortinarius praestans'', are highly esteemed. However, some mycologists believe that no ''Cortinarius'' should be eaten.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1331029 Basidiomycota families

Taxonomic details

Differences in genera

Edibility

See also

References