The Russulales are an order of the Agaricomycetes,. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi, the order consists of 12 families, 80 genera, and 1767 species. According to Species Fungorum, the order contains 13 families, 117 genera, and 3,060 species.
The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms 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, along with six extinct genera known only from the fossil record. They range from the ubiquitous common mushroom to the deadly destroying angel and the hallucinogenic fly agaric to the bioluminescent jack-o-lantern mushroom.
The Phallales are an order of fungi in the subclass Phallomycetidae. The order contains two families: the Claustulaceae, and the Phallaceae, which, according to a 2008 estimate, collectively contain 26 genera and 88 species.
The Russulaceae are a diverse family of fungi in the order Russulales, with roughly 1,900 known species and a worldwide distribution. They comprise the brittlegills and the milk-caps, well-known mushroom-forming fungi that include some edible species. These gilled mushrooms are characterised by the brittle flesh of their fruitbodies.
Auriscalpium is a genus of mushrooms typifying the family Auriscalpiaceae.
Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not part of the currently accepted classification. This indicates that several traditional morphological features in the class are not unique and DNA sequence comparisons are important to define the class.
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi as well as some corticioid fungi. These species are nutritionally diverse, some being ectomycorrhizal, others wood-rotting saprotrophs, others lichenized, and yet others lichenicolous.
The Auriscalpiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. Like much of the Russulales, it has been defined through molecular phylogeny, and includes physically dissimilar species, such as the tooth fungus Auriscalpium and the gilled, often shelf-like members of Lentinellus.
The Gomphales are an order of basidiomycete fungi. Some or all families belonging to Gomphales have been sometimes included in the order Phallales, the now-obsolete Ramariaceae was also previously included in Cantharellales. Recent phylogenetic analyses include in Gomphales the families of the original description of the order by Walter Jülich, with addition of Clavariadelphaceae. According to one 2008 estimate, the Gomphales contain 18 genera and 336 species.
Lentinellus is a genus of white rot, wood decay, lamellate agaric in the family Auriscalpiaceae, further characterized in part by rough-walled, amyloid spores produced on lamellae with jagged edges. Typically, thick-walled hyphae in the fruit body are in part amyloid, and frequently the taste of the mushrooms is acrid. The widespread genus has been estimated to contain 15 species. Mycologists Ronald Petersen and Karen Hughes considered 24 species in their 2004 world monograph of the genus.
The Hericiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. The best known genus is Hericium, species of which are valued for their medicinal properties in Oriental medicine. Taxa are mainly known from north temperate regions, and are saprobic on rotting wood. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Hericiaceae belongs to the russuloid clade of homobasidiomycetes, and morphological and molecular evidence links it with the families Auriscalpiaceae, Bondarzewiaceae and Echinodontiaceae. Originally proposed in 1961 by Taisiya Lvovna Nikolayeva as a subfamily of Hydnaceae, Hericiaceae was formally published as a family by Marinus Anton Donk in 1964.
The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not. This artificial but often useful grouping is now more generally called the hydnoid or tooth fungi. In the strict, modern sense, the Hydnaceae are limited to the genus Hydnum and related genera, with basidiocarps having a toothed or poroid hymenium. Species in the family are ectomycorrhizal, forming a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of trees and other plants. Hydnum repandum is an edible species, commercially collected in some countries and often marketed under the French name pied de mouton.
Atheliaceae is a family of corticioid fungi placed under the monotypic order Atheliales. Both the order and the family were described by Walter Jülich in 1981. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 20 genera and approximately 100 species. However, many genera formerly considered to belong in the Atheliaceae have since been moved to other families, including Amylocorticiaceae, Albatrellaceae, and Hygrophoraceae. Despite being a relatively small group with inconspicuous forms, Atheliaceae members show great diversity in life strategies and are widespread in distribution. Additionally, being a group strictly composed of corticioid fungi, they may also provide insights on the evolution of fruiting body forms in basidiomycetes.
The Echinodontiaceae are a family of crust fungi in the order Russulales. Species of this family, divided amongst two genera—Echinodontium and Laurilia—have a widespread distribution, although they are especially predominant in north temperate zones. They are parasitic or saprobic on wood, and may cause white rot of angiosperms and gymnosperms.
The Inocybaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Members of this family have a widespread distribution in tropical and temperate areas.
Boidinia is a genus of crust fungi in the family Russulaceae. The genus is widely distributed, and contains 10 species. Boidinia was described in 1982 with the type species Boidinia furfuracea. It is named in honor of French mycologist Jacques Boidin.
Laxitextum is a genus of fungi in the family Hericiaceae. The widespread genus contains three species. It was circumscribed by Paul Lewis Lentz in 1955. Species in the genus have fruit bodies that are effused to reflexed and a smooth hymenium. Molecular analysis shows that the genus groups in a clade with the genera Hericium and Dentipellis.
Hericium is a genus of edible mushrooms in the family Hericiaceae. Species in this genus are white and fleshy and grow on dead or dying wood; fruiting bodies resemble a mass of fragile icicle-like spines that are suspended from either a branched supporting framework or from a tough, unbranched cushion of tissue. This distinctive structure has earned Hericium species a variety of common names—monkey's head, lion's mane, and bear's head are examples. Taxonomically, this genus was previously placed within the order Aphyllophorales, but recent molecular studies now place it in the Russulales.
Auriscalpium vulgare, commonly known as the pinecone mushroom, the cone tooth, or the ear-pick fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae of the order Russulales. It was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus, who included it as a member of the tooth fungi genus Hydnum, but British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray recognized its uniqueness and in 1821 transferred it to the genus Auriscalpium that he created to contain it. The fungus is widely distributed in Europe, Central America, North America, and temperate Asia. Although common, its small size and nondescript colors lead it to be easily overlooked in the pine woods where it grows. A. vulgare is not generally considered edible because of its tough texture, but some historical literature says it used to be consumed in France and Italy.
Morganella is a genus of puffball fungi in the family Agaricaceae. The genus name honors American botanist Andrew Price Morgan (1836–1907). The widely distributed genus is prevalent in tropical areas. A 2008 estimate placed nine species in Morganella, but several new species have since been described.
