The Physalacriaceae are a family of fungi in 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, alo ...

. Species in the family have a widespread distribution, ranging from the Arctic, (''

Rhizomarasmius ''Rhizomarasmius'' is a genus of fungi in the family Physalacriaceae, containing about five species. General The genus was created in 2000 by R. H. Petersen to accommodate two species then classified in Marasmius (''M. pyrrhocephalus'' and ''M. ...

''), to the tropics, e.g. ''

Gloiocephala ''Gloiocephala'' is a genus of fungi in the family Physalacriaceae. The genus is widespread, though mainly known from tropical and sub-tropical areas, and contains about 30 species. The mushrooms of this group are very small and grow on stems an ...

'', and from marine sites (''

Mycaureola ''Mycaureola'' is a genus of fungi in the family Physalacriaceae of mushrooms. Circumscribed in 1922 by French mycologists René Maire and Émile Chemin, the genus is monotypic, containing the single species ''Mycaureola dilseae''. The fungus is ...

'') and fresh waters (''

'') to semiarid forests ('' Xerula'').

Description

Most species in the Physalacriaceae form

fruit bodies The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life c ...

with caps and

stipes Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

. They have a monomitic

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

l system (wherein only generative hypha are produced), and clamp connections are present in the hyphae. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped with two to four sterigmata. The basidiospores generally have

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

al, spindle-like (fusiform), cylindrical, or tear-drop (lacrimiform) shapes; they are thin-walled,

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

, and do not react with Melzer's reagent. The family also contains corticioid fungi (in genus ''

Cylindrobasidium ''Cylindrobasidium'' is a genus of corticioid fungi in the family Physalacriaceae. circumscribed by Swiss mycologist Walter Jülich Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues ...

'') and a secotioid species (''

Guyanagaster necrorhiza ''Guyanagaster'' is a genus of fungi in the family Physalacriaceae. The genus contains two wood-decaying sequestrate species ''Guyanagaster necrorhizus'' and ''Guyanagaster lucianii''. The species, found in the neotropical rainforests of the Gui ...

'').

Taxonomy

The family was originally defined by English mycologist

E.J.H. Corner Edred John Henry Corner FRS (12 January 1906 – 14 September 1996) was an English mycologist and botanist who occupied the posts of assistant director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens (1929–1946) and Professor of Tropical Botany at the Univ ...

in 1970 and revised in 1985 by Jacques Berthier but neither author anticipated the application to a molecularly defined group of agarics first identified by Moncalvo and others in 2002.

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 ...

studies placed ''

Physalacria ''Physalacria'' is a genus of fungi in the family Physalacriaceae. The genus contains 30 species widely distributed in tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Canc ...

'', formerly the sole genus in this family, together with the agaric genera '' Flammulina'' and '' Xerula'' and '' Armillaria''. Due to the precedence rules based on date of publication, the family name "Physalacriaceae" became applicable for all these fungi, making the former family "Xerulaceae" obsolete.

Genera

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3041113 Agaricales families Taxa named by E. J. H. Corner Taxa described in 1970

Description

Taxonomy

Genera

See also

References

External links