Calocera viscosa

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Calocera viscosa
Cviscosa wiki.jpg
Calocera viscosa. Durmitor National Park, Montenegro
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Dacrymycetes
Order: Dacrymycetales
Family: Dacrymycetaceae
Genus: Calocera
Species:
C. viscosa
Binomial name
Calocera viscosa
(Pers.) Fr. (1827)
Synonyms

Clavaria viscosaPers. (1794)
Clavaria aurea Humb. (1793) (nom. illegit.)
Calocera flammea Wallr. (1833)
Calocera cavarae Bres. (1896)
Calocera viscosa var. cavarae(Bres.) McNabb (1965)

Contents

Calocera viscosa
Information icon.svg
Smooth icon.pngSmooth hymenium
No cap icon.svgNo distinct cap
NA cap icon.svg Hymenium attachment is irregular or not applicable
Bare stipe icon.svg Stipe is bare
Transparent spore print icon.svg
Spore print is white
Saprotrophic fungus.svgEcology is saprotrophic
Mycomorphbox Caution.pngEdibility is not recommended

Calocera viscosa is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. In the UK, it has the recommended English name of yellow stagshorn. [1] In North America it is variously called coral jelly fungus, [2] jelly staghorn, [3] yellow false coral, [4] yellow tuning fork, [5] and jelly antler. [6] Basidiocarps (fruit bodies) are gelatinous, bright golden yellow, and branched. It grows exclusively on logs and dead wood of conifers. Calocera viscosa is a common species throughout Europe and has also been recorded from North America, Asia, and Australia.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described as Clavaria aurea by the German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt in 1793, but the name is illegitimate since it had already been used for a different species. [7] The species was legitimately described as Clavaria viscosa from Germany in 1794 by South African born mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. It was transferred to the genus Calocera by the Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1827.

A white species, Calocera cavarae, was described from Italy in 1896, but later studies suggested that this is no more than an aberrant form of C. viscosa lacking yellow pigments. [8] [9]

Description

Calocera viscosa forms bright golden to orange-yellow (rarely white), firmly gelatinous fruit bodies up to 10 cm tall, with a paler stem and coral-like branches. [10]

Microscopic characters

Hyphae lack clamp connections. The basidia are two-spored and typical of the Dacrymycetaceae. The spores are weakly allantoid (sausage-shaped), 8 to 12.5 by 3.5 to 4.5  μm, thin-walled, becoming tardily once-septate. [10] [11]

Habitat and distribution

Calocera viscosa is a wood-rotting species, found on logs and dead wood of conifers. It was originally described from Germany and is common throughout Europe, but has also been recorded from North America, Asia, and Australia. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

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Calocera cornea is a jelly fungus that grows on decaying wood. It is a member of the Dacrymycetales, an order of fungi characterized by their unique "tuning fork" basidia.

<i>Ramaria formosa</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Bisporella citrina</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Clathrus ruber</i> Species of fungus in the stinkhorn family

Clathrus ruber is a species of fungus in the family Phallaceae, and the type species of the genus Clathrus. It is commonly known as the latticed stinkhorn, the basket stinkhorn, or the red cage, alluding to the striking fruit bodies that are shaped somewhat like a round or oval hollow sphere with interlaced or latticed branches. The fungus is saprobic, feeding off decaying woody plant material, and is often found alone or in groups in leaf litter on garden soil, grassy places, or on woodchip garden mulches. Although considered primarily a European species, C. ruber has been introduced to other areas, and now has a wide distribution that includes all continents except Antarctica. The species was illustrated in the scientific literature during the 16th century, but was not officially described until 1729.

<i>Exidia glandulosa</i> Species of fungus

Exidia glandulosa, commonly known as black witches' butter, black jelly roll, or warty jelly fungus, is a jelly fungus in the family Auriculariaceae. It is a common, wood-rotting species in Europe, typically growing on dead attached branches of oak. The fruit bodies are up to 3 cm (1.2 in) wide, shiny, black and blister-like, and grow singly or in clusters. Its occurrence elsewhere is uncertain because of confusion with the related species, Exidia nigricans.

<i>Suillus brevipes</i> Species of edible fungus in the family Suillaceae found throughout North America

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<i>Ramariopsis kunzei</i> Species of fungus

Ramariopsis kunzei is an edible species of coral fungi in the family Clavariaceae, and the type species of the genus Ramariopsis. It is commonly known as white coral because of the branched structure of the fruit bodies that resemble marine coral. The fruit bodies are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) tall by 4 cm (1.6 in) wide, with numerous branches originating from a short rudimentary stem. The branches are one to two millimeters thick, smooth, and white, sometimes with yellowish tips in age. Ramariopsis kunzei has a widespread distribution, and is found in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

<i>Pholiota flammans</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Clavaria fragilis</i> Species of fungus

Clavaria fragilis, commonly known as fairy fingers, white worm coral, or white spindles, is a species of fungus in the family Clavariaceae. It is synonymous with Clavaria vermicularis. The fungus is the type species of the genus Clavaria and is a typical member of the clavarioid or club fungi. It produces tubular, unbranched, white basidiocarps that typically grow in clusters. The fruit bodies can reach dimensions of 15 cm (5.9 in) tall by 0.5 cm (0.2 in) thick. Clavaria fragilis is a saprobic species, growing in woodland litter or in old, unimproved grassland. It is widespread throughout temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, but has also been reported from Australia and South Africa. The fungus is edible, but insubstantial and flavorless. There are several other small white coral-like fungi with which C. fragilis may be confused.

<i>Clavaria zollingeri</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Cortinarius delibutus</i> Species of fungus

Cortinarius delibutus, also known as the bluegill webcap or the yellow webcap, is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus Cortinarius. The fruit bodies are medium-sized, with shiny yellow caps on a sticky, yellow-banded club-shaped stem. The mushroom is found in Europe and North America, usually near birch or beech trees.

<i>Clavariadelphus ligula</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Guepinia</i> Genus of fungi

Guepinia is a genus of fungus in the Auriculariales order. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Guepinia helvelloides, commonly known as the apricot jelly. The fungus produces salmon-pink, ear-shaped, gelatinous fruit bodies that grow solitarily or in small tufted groups on soil, usually associated with buried rotting wood. The fruit bodies are up to 10 cm (4 in) tall and up to 17 cm wide; the stalks are not well-differentiated from the cap. It has a white spore deposit, and the oblong to ellipsoid spores measure 9–11 by 5–6 micrometers.

<i>Hericium abietis</i> Species of fungus

Hericium abietis, commonly known as the bear's head, conifer coral hericium, or western coral hedgehog, is an edible mushroom in the tooth fungus group. It grows on conifer stumps or logs in North America, producing a cream white fruit body up to 10–75 cm (4–30 in) tall and wide. It fruits from after the start of the fall rains to mid-season.

<i>Leotia lubrica</i> Species of fungus

Leotia lubrica, commonly referred to as a jelly baby, is a species of fungus in the family Leotiaceae. L. lubrica was first validly described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, but it was later transferred to Leotia by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon. Its relationship with other members of the genus, of which it is the type species, is complicated.

<i>Thelephora palmata</i> Species of clavarioid fungus

Thelephora palmata commonly known as the fetid false coral or stinking earthfan, is a species of clavarioid fungus in the family Thelephoraceae. The fruit bodies are leathery and coral-like, with branches that are narrow at the base before widening out like a fan and splitting into numerous flattened prongs. The wedge-like tips are whitish when young, but darken as the fungus matures. The common names of the fungus refers to its pungent odor, likened to fetid garlic. A widely distributed but uncommon species, it is found in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America, where it fruits on the ground in both coniferous and mixed forest.

<i>Ramaria botrytoides</i> Species of fungus

Ramaria botrytoides is a species of coral fungus in the family Gomphaceae. First described by American mycologist Charles Horton Peck in 1905 as Clavaria botryoides, it was transferred to the genus Ramaria in 1950 by E.J.H. Corner. Found in the eastern United States, it resembles Ramaria botrytis, but can be most reliably distinguished from that species by the lack of longitudinal striations in its spores.

<i>Guepiniopsis alpina</i> Species of fungus

Guepiniopsis alpina, commonly known as the jelly cup, alpine jelly cone, or poor man's gumdrop, is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. The small, gelatinous Fruit bodies are orange and cone or cup shaped. Found in western North America and Iran, the fungus grows on decaying conifer wood.

<i>Hygrophorus erubescens</i> Species of fungus

Hygrophorus erubescens, commonly known as the blotched woodwax or pink waxcap, is an agaric fungus native to Scandinavia, Japan, Central Europe, Great Britain and North America.

<i>Calocera pallidospathulata</i> Species of fungus

Calocera pallidospathulata is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. In the UK, it has the recommended English name of pale stagshorn. Basidiocarps are gelatinous, pale yellow, and spathulate. It typically grows on logs and dead wood of both broadleaved trees and conifers. It is mainly found in Great Britain, but has also been recorded from continental Europe.

References

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