Leotia

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Leotia
Leotia lubrica1.jpg
Leotia lubrica
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Leotiomycetes
Order: Leotiales
Family: Leotiaceae
Genus: Leotia
Pers. (1794)
Type species
Leotia lubrica
(Scop.) Pers. (1797)
Species

Leotia atrovirens
Leotia lubrica
Leotia viscosa

Leotia is a genus of cup fungi of the division Ascomycota. Leotia species are globally distributed, and are believed to be ectomycorrhizal. [1] They are commonly known as jelly babies because of the gelatinous texture of their fruiting bodies.

Contents

Biology

Leotia species are characterized by their capitate ascocarps. Within the class Leotiomycetes, Leotia species produce large fruiting bodies; their long-stalked apothecia bear a fertile layer of asci that covers the upper surface of a mushroom-like cap.

Leotia is closely related to Microglossum , [2] another genus characterized by capitate ascocarps. The species of Leotia have traditionally been defined largely by the fresh color of the ascocarps (tan in L. lubrica, olive-green in L. atrovirens, and green-headed with a yellow stalk in L. viscosa). However, a molecular phylogenetic study [3] revealed that color is a poor predictor of species affiliation, suggesting further study is needed to develop new, more predictive species concepts.

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<i>Psilocybe</i> Genus of fungi

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basidiocarp</span> Fungal structure

In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma (pl. basidiomata) is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do not produce such structures. As with other sporocarps, epigeous (above-ground) basidiocarps that are visible to the naked eye are commonly referred to as mushrooms, while hypogeous (underground) basidiocarps are usually called false truffles.

<i>Lactarius</i> Genus of fungi

Lactarius is a genus of mushroom-producing, ectomycorrhizal fungi, containing several edible species. The species of the genus, commonly known as milk-caps, are characterized by the milky fluid ("latex") they exude when cut or damaged. Like the closely related genus Russula, their flesh has a distinctive brittle consistency. It is a large genus with over 500 known species, mainly distributed in the Northern hemisphere. Recently, the genus Lactifluus has been separated from Lactarius based on molecular phylogenetic evidence.

<i>Russula virescens</i> Species of edible fungus

Russula virescens is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula, and is commonly known as the green-cracking russula, the quilted green russula, or the green brittlegill. It can be recognized by its distinctive pale green cap that measures up to 15 cm (6 in) in diameter, the surface of which is covered with darker green angular patches. It has crowded white gills, and a firm, white stipe that is up to 8 cm (3 in) tall and 4 cm (1.6 in) thick. Considered to be one of the best edible mushrooms of the genus Russula, it is especially popular in Spain and China. With a taste that is described variously as mild, nutty, fruity, or sweet, it is cooked by grilling, frying, sautéeing, or eaten raw. Mushrooms are rich in carbohydrates and proteins, with a low fat content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sporocarp (fungus)</span> Fungal structure on which spore-producing structures are borne

The sporocarp 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 cycle, while the rest of the life cycle is characterized by vegetative mycelial growth and asexual spore production.

<i>Calostoma</i> Genus of fungi

Calostoma is a genus of 29 species of gasteroid fungi in the suborder Sclerodermatineae. Like other gasteroid fungi, Calostoma do not have the spore discharge mechanism associated with typical gilled fungi (ballistospory), and instead have enclosed spore-bearing structures. Resembling round puffballs with raised, brightly colored spore openings (ostioles), elevated on a thick, gelatinous stalks, species have been collected in regions of deciduous, temperate, tropical or subtropical forests. Their distribution includes eastern North America, Central America, Asia, and Australasia. The common name given to some species, "prettymouth", alludes to the brightly colored raised openings (ostioles) that may somewhat resemble lips. Other common names include "hotlips" and "puffball in aspic".

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Lophiostoma is a genus of ascomycetous fungi in the family Lophiostomataceae.

<i>Sarcosphaera</i> Genus of fungi

Sarcosphaera is a fungal genus within the Pezizaceae family. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Sarcosphaera coronaria, commonly known as the pink crown, the violet crown-cup, or the violet star cup. Although several taxa have been described as Sarcosphaera species since the introduction of the genus in 1869, most lack modern descriptions, have been transferred to the related genus Peziza, or are considered synonymous with S. coronaria.

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

Suillus brevipes is a species of fungus in the family Suillaceae. First described by American mycologists in the late 19th century, it is commonly known as the stubby-stalk or the short-stemmed slippery Jack. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) produced by the fungus are characterized by a chocolate to reddish-brown cap covered with a sticky layer of slime, and a short whitish stipe that has neither a partial veil nor prominent, colored glandular dots. The cap can reach a diameter of about 10 cm, while the stipe is up to 6 cm long and 2 cm thick. Like other bolete mushrooms, S. brevipes produces spores in a vertically arranged layer of spongy tubes with openings that form a layer of small yellowish pores on the underside of the cap.

<i>Suillus spraguei</i> Species of mushroom

Suillus spraguei is a species of fungus in the family Suillaceae. It is known by a variety of common names, including the painted slipperycap, the painted suillus or the red and yellow suillus. Suillus spraguei has had a complex taxonomical history, and is also frequently referred to as Suillus pictus in the literature. The readily identifiable fruit bodies have caps that are dark red when fresh, dry to the touch, and covered with mats of hairs and scales that are separated by yellow cracks. On the underside of the cap are small, yellow, angular pores that become brownish as the mushroom ages. The stalk bears a grayish cottony ring, and is typically covered with soft hairs or scales.

<i>Lactarius alnicola</i> Species of fungus

Lactarius alnicola, commonly known as the golden milkcap, is a species of fungus in the family Russulaceae. The fruit bodies produced by the fungus are characterized by a sticky, vanilla-colored cap up to 20 cm (7.9 in) wide with a mixture of yellow tones arranged in faint concentric bands. The stem is up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long and has yellow-brown spots. When it is cut or injured, the mushroom oozes a white latex, which has an intensely peppery taste. The acrid taste of the fruit bodies renders them unpalatable. The fungus is found in the western United States and Mexico, where it grows in mycorrhizal associations with various coniferous trees species, such as spruce, pine and fir, and deciduous species such as oak and alder. It has also been collected in India. Two varieties have been named: var. pitkinensis, known from Colorado, and var. pungens, from Michigan.

<i>Suillus pungens</i> Species of fungus in the family Suillaceae found in California

Suillus pungens, commonly known as the pungent slippery jack or the pungent suillus, is a species of fungus in the genus Suillus. The fruit bodies of the fungus have slimy convex caps up to 14 cm (5.5 in) wide. The mushroom is characterized by the very distinct color changes that occur in the cap throughout development. Typically, the young cap is whitish, later becoming grayish-olive to reddish-brown or a mottled combination of these colors. The mushroom has a dotted stem (stipe) up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long, and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. On the underside on the cap is the spore-bearing tissue consisting of minute vertically arranged tubes that appear as a surface of angular, yellowish pores. The presence of milky droplets on the pore surface of young individuals, especially in humid environments, is a characteristic feature of this species. S. pungens can usually be distinguished from other similar Suillus species by differences in distribution, odor and taste. The mushroom is considered edible, but not highly regarded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulasnellaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Tulasnellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family comprises mainly effused (patch-forming) fungi formerly referred to the "jelly fungi" or heterobasidiomycetes. Species are wood- or litter-rotting saprotrophs, but many are also endomycorrhizal associates of orchids and some have also been thought to form ectomycorrhizal associations with trees and other plants.

<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>Calocera viscosa</i> Species of fungus

Calocera viscosa is a species of fungus in the family Dacrymycetaceae. In the UK, it has the recommended English name of yellow stagshorn. In North America it is variously called coral jelly fungus, jelly staghorn, yellow false coral, yellow tuning fork, and jelly antler. Basidiocarps 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.

<i>Tricholoma vaccinum</i> Fungus of the agaric genus Tricholoma

Tricholoma vaccinum, commonly known as the russet scaly tricholoma, the scaly knight, or the fuzztop, is a fungus of the agaric genus Tricholoma. It produces medium-sized fruit bodies (mushrooms) that have a distinctive hairy reddish-brown cap with a shaggy margin when young. The cap, which can reach a diameter of up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide, breaks up into flattened scales in maturity. It has cream-buff to pinkish gills with brown spots. Its fibrous, hollow stipe is white above and reddish brown below, and measures 4 to 7.5 cm long. Although young fruit bodies have a partial veil, it does not leave a ring on the stipe.

<i>Phaeoclavulina abietina</i> Species of fungus

Phaeoclavulina abietina, commonly known as the green-staining coral, is a coral mushroom in the family Gomphaceae. It is characterized by the green staining reaction it develops in response to bruising or injury.

<i>Calostoma cinnabarinum</i> Species of fungus

Calostoma cinnabarinum, commonly known as the stalked puffball-in-aspic,gelatinous stalked-puffball, or red slimy-stalked puffball, is a species of gasteroid fungus in the family Sclerodermataceae, and is the type species of the genus Calostoma. The fruit body has a distinctive color and overall appearance, featuring a layer of yellowish jelly surrounding a bright red, spherical head approximately 2 centimeters (0.8 in) in diameter atop a red or yellowish brown spongy stipe 1.5 to 4 cm tall. The innermost layer of the head is the gleba, containing clear or slightly yellowish elliptical spores, measuring 14–20 micrometers (µm) long by 6–9 µm across. The spore surface features a pattern of small pits, producing a net-like appearance. A widely distributed species, it grows naturally in eastern North America, Central America, northeastern South America, and East Asia. C. cinnabarinum grows on the ground in deciduous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with oaks.

<i>Sphaerosporella brunnea</i> Fungi species

Sphaerosporella brunnea is a pryophilic species of small ascomycete cup fungi that commonly makes its habitat on burned substrates. Sphaerosporella brunnea is synonymous with Sphaerosporella hinnulea, Trichophaea brunnea, Peziza brunnea and numerous other fungi due to previously conceived variations in the fungi's habitat, substrate, and color ranging from dark brown to a light yellow-orange, however these differences were soon found to be negligible. S. brunnea is ectomycorrhizal, suspected to be saprobic, and is thought to be commonly widely distributed in Australia, Asia, the eastern United States and parts of Europe, such as Germany, Austria, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. This minuscule fungi is a detrimental contaminant in black truffle orchards, where Sphaerosporella brunnea seems to compete and inhibit the infection and growth of Tuber fungi, causing economic loss due to decreased infection rates of Tuber species.

References

  1. Tedersoo L, Smith ME (2017). "Ectomycorrhizal fungal lineages: detection of four new groups and notes on consistent recognition of ectomycorrhizal taxa in high-throughput sequencing studies".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Wang Z, Binder M, Schoch CL, Johnston PR, Spatafora JW, Hibbett DS (November 2006). "Evolution of helotialean fungi (Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina): a nuclear rDNA phylogeny". Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 41 (2): 295–312. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.031. PMID   16837216.
  3. Zhong, Z; Pfister, DH. (2004). "Phylogenetic relationships among species of Leotia (Leotiales) based on ITS and RPB2 sequences". Mycological Progress. 3 (3): 237–246. doi:10.1007/s11557-006-0094-8. S2CID   20086665.