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| The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
Including Lentinellaceae
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; persistent; clustered; differentiated into a stipe and pileus with the hymenium underneath the latter, or flattened and more or less appressed to the substrate or encrusting, with the hymenium on the outside (pileate, or effuso-reflexed, the context tough or leathery, with abundant gloeoplerous hyphae); small to medium sized; 1–5 cm across. The mature pileus (when pileate) more or less flat or somewhat depressed, or concave. The top of the pileus light brown, or dark brown. The fruit-bodies smelling of aniseed, or with no particular odour other than an ordinary fungoid one. The stipe with neither ring nor volva. The hymenium borne on gills (Lentinellaceae), or with pegs or spinose (spinose). The basidia ‘unmodified’. The basidiospores ballistosporic; hyaline; smooth, or ornamented; amyloid.
The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer. The hyphae monomitic (Lentinellaceae), or dimitic (then with skeletal hyphae). The generative hyphae not inflated.
Ecology. Saprophytic. The fruit-bodies on dead wood. Associated with broad-leaved trees. The fruit-bodies on dead trees and fallen logs. Especially on beech stumps. Found in broad-leaved woodland and in mixed woodland.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 1360 species in Britain (Auriscalpium, Clavicorona, Lentinellus).
World representation. 37 species; genera 5. “Widespread”.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Russulales.
Comments. The basidioma tough, leathery.
Illustrations. • Auriscalpium vulgare and Lentinellus cochleatus (LH). AURISCALPICACEAE. 1, Auriscalpium vulgare. 2, Lentinellus cochleatus. Sunesen & Dahlstrøm, in Lange & Hora (1965). • Lentinellus cochleatus (Berkeley). AURISCALPIACEAE. 4, Lentinellus cochleatus (Pers.) P. Karst. MARASMIACEAE. 3, Marasmius wynnei Berk. & Broome. TRICHOLOMATACEAE. 2, Asterophora parasitica (Bull.) Singer. CORTINARIACEAE. 1, Cortinarius bolaris (Pers.) Fr. FOMITOPSIDACEAE. 5, Daedalea quercina (L.) Pers. CANTHERELLACEAE. 6, Craterellus cornucopioides (L.) Pers. From Berkeley (1860).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, 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. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2008 onwards. The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland. Version: 5th August 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
