Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and infection. Mycology branches into the field of phytopathology, the study of plant diseases. The two disciplines are closely related, because the vast majority of plant pathogens are fungi. A biologist specializing in mycology is called a mycologist.
The Agaricales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics, but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are closely related and some belong in other orders, such as the Russulales and Boletales. Conversely, DNA research has also shown that many non-agarics, including some of the clavarioid fungi and gasteroid fungi belong within the Agaricales. The order has 46 extant families, more than 400 genera, and over 25,000 described species, along with six extinct genera known only from the fossil record. Species in the Agaricales range from the familiar Agaricus bisporus and the deadly Amanita virosa to the coral-like Clavaria zollingeri and bracket-like Fistulina hepatica.
The Hygrophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilled agarics, including Hygrophorus and Hygrocybe species, DNA evidence has extended the limits of the family, so it now contains not only agarics, but also basidiolichens and corticioid fungi. Species are thus diverse and are variously ectomycorrhizal, lichenized, associated with mosses, or saprotrophic. The family contains 34 genera and over 1000 species. None is of any great economic importance, though fruit bodies of some Hygrocybe and Hygrophorus species are considered edible and may be collected for sale in local markets.
Entoloma is a genus of fungi in the order Agaricales. Called pinkgills in English, basidiocarps are typically agaricoid, though a minority are gasteroid. All have salmon-pink basidiospores which colour the gills at maturity and are angular (polyhedral) under a microscope. The genus is large, with almost 2000 species worldwide. Most species are saprotrophic, but some are ectomycorrhizal, and a few are parasitic on other fungi. The type, Entoloma sinuatum, is one of several Entoloma species that are poisonous, typically causing mild to severe gastrointestinal illness.
Alexander Hanchett Smith was an American mycologist known for his extensive contributions to the taxonomy and phylogeny of the higher fungi, especially the agarics.
Auricularia is a genus of fungi in the family Auriculariaceae. Basidiocarps are typically gelatinous and ear-shaped, with a slightly downy to conspicuously hirsute upper surface and an under surface that is smooth, wrinkled or veined. All species grow on wood. Several Auricularia species are edible and commercially cultivated on a large scale in China and East Asia.
Rhodotus is a genus in the fungus family Physalacriaceae. There are two species in the genus with the best known, Rhodotus palmatus, called the netted rhodotus, the rosy veincap, or the wrinkled peach. This uncommon species has a circumboreal distribution, and has been collected in eastern North America, northern Africa, Europe, and Asia; declining populations in Europe have led to its appearance in over half of the European fungal Red Lists of threatened species. Typically found growing on the stumps and logs of rotting hardwoods, mature specimens may usually be identified by the pinkish color and the distinctive ridged and veined surface of their rubbery caps; variations in the color and quantity of light received during development lead to variations in the size, shape, and cap color of fruit bodies.
Dendrocollybia is a fungal genus in the family Tricholomataceae of the order Agaricales. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Dendrocollybia racemosa, commonly known as the branched collybia or the branched shanklet. The somewhat rare species is found in the Northern Hemisphere, including the Pacific Northwest region of western North America, and Europe, where it is included in several Regional Red Lists. It usually grows on the decaying fruit bodies of other agarics—such as Lactarius and Russula—although the host mushrooms may be decayed to the point of being difficult to recognize.
Mycetophagites is an extinct fungal genus of mycoparasitic in the order Hypocreales. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Mycetophagites atrebora.
Dissoderma paradoxum, which has the recommended English name of powdercap strangler in the UK, is a species of fungus in the family Squamanitaceae. It is a parasitic fungus that grows on the fruit bodies of another fungus, Cystoderma amianthinum. It takes over the host and replaces the cap and gills with its own but retains the original stipe, creating in effect a hybrid between the two. The species was first described as Cystoderma paradoxum by American mycologists Alexander H. Smith and Rolf Singer in 1948, based on specimens collected in Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon. Cornelis Bas transferred the species to the genus Squamanita in 1965. Recent molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has however shown that the species does not belong in Squamanita sensu stricto but in the related genus Dissoderma. The species occurs in both North America and Europe.
Volvariella surrecta, commonly known as the piggyback rosegill, is an agaric fungus in the family Pluteaceae. Although rare, the species is widely distributed, having been reported from Asia, North America, Northern Africa, Europe, and New Zealand. The fungus grows as a parasite on the fruit bodies of other gilled mushrooms, usually Clitocybe nebularis. V. surrecta mushrooms have white or greyish silky-hairy caps up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter, and white gills that turns pink in maturity. The stipe, also white, is up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, and has a sack-like volva at its base.
Parasola auricoma is a species of agaric fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae. First described scientifically in 1886, the species is found in Europe, Japan, and North America. The mushroom was reported in February 2019 in Colombia, in the city of Bogota by the mycologist Juan Camilo Rodriguez Martinez. The small, umbrella-shaped fruit bodies (mushrooms) of the fungus grow in grass or woodchips and are short-lived, usually collapsing with age in a few hours. The caps are up to 6 cm (2.4 in) wide, initially elliptical before flattening out, and colored reddish-brown to greyish, depending on their age and hydration. They are pleated with radial grooves extending from the center to the edge of the cap. The slender, whitish stems are up to 12 cm (4.7 in) long and a few millimeters thick. Microscopically, P. auricoma is characterized by the presence of setae in its cap cuticle. This characteristic, in addition to the relatively large, ellipsoid spores can be used to distinguish it from other morphologically similar Parasola species.
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.
Stropharia caerulea, commonly known as the blue roundhead, is a species of mushroom forming fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is a somewhat common species found in Europe and North America, where it grows as a saprophyte in meadows, roadsides, hedgerows, gardens, and woodchip mulch. S. caerulea was officially described to science in 1979, although it was known to be a distinct species for about two centuries before that. The scientific name Stropharia cyanea, as defined by Tuomikoski in 1953, and used by several later authors, is a synonym of S. caerulea.
Squamanita contortipes is a small mushroom species in the family Squamanitaceae, formerly in the Tricholomataceae. It was originally described in 1957 by American mycologist Alexander H. Smith and Daniel Elliot Stuntz as a member of Cystoderma. Paul Heinemann and David Thoen transferred it to the genus Squamanita in 1973. Discovery of an unusual fruiting of this species where three fruitbodies grew on one, still fertile host pileus which was a species of Galerina proved that Squamanita was a mycoparasitic genus. Photos of this fruiting were published in 1994 and immediately republished and highlighted in 1995 in Nature magazine where the original discovery article was featured. The species proved to be the Rosetta Stone for deciphering the parasite from the host in graft-like fruitings. Normally, S. contortipes only forms one fruitbody on each parasitized host and the host normally fails to remain fertile and does not form its own pileus.
Josef Herink was a Czech physician and mycologist.
Dissoderma is a genus of parasitic fungi in the family Squamanitaceae. Basidiocarps superficially resemble normal agarics but emerge from parasitized fruit bodies of deformed host agarics.
The Squamanitaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. All species in the family are agarics. Species in two genera, Dissoderma and Squamanita, are parasitic on other agarics. Members of the Squamanitaceae are found worldwide.
Dissoderma odoratum is a species of fungi in the family Squamanitaceae. It is a distinctly strong-smelling species with small, purple sporocarps. The fungus parasites in the sporocarps of the veiled hebeloma, which are deformed by the parasitic fungus. Dissoderma odoratum is mostly found in Europe but has also been found from the United States. The fungus is a rare species that is classified as endangered in several European countries.
