The Families of Mushrooms and Toadstools Represented in the British Isles
The Families of Mushrooms and Toadstools Represented in the British Isles | |
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; angiocarpic; a globose or tuberiform gasterocarp (with a prominent mycelial tuft below, the gleba olivaceous grey with radiating tramal plates, deliquescent); small; 1–1.5 cm across; white or whitish, or grey to blackish (subsequently). Gleba becoming mucilaginous and foetid. The peridium not dehiscent (not gelatinized). The basidia ‘unmodified’. The basidiospores statismosporic; smooth.
The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer.
Ecology. The fruit-bodies subterranean. Associated with broad-leaved trees. In calcareous soil at the bases of frondose trees. Found in broad-leaved woodland and in mixed woodland.
British representation. 4 species in Britain; Hysterangium.
World representation. 69 species; genera 11. Widespread, especially temperate.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Phallales.
Illustrations. • Hysterangium coriaceum (LH).
To view the illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2008 onwards. The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in the British Isles. Version: 14th February 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.
