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| The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
~ Stereaceae
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; persistent; flattened and more or less appressed to the substrate or encrusting, with the hymenium on the outside; medium sized to large. The upper surface cream or yellowish to straw-coloured, or yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, or blackish (or blueish tinged). The hymenium smooth, or irregularly folded, ridged or wrinkled. The hymenial layer not readily separable from the supporting flesh. Cystidia present; gloeocystidia (or metuloids). The basidia ‘unmodified’; not of the ceratobasidialean type (q.v.). The basidiospores ballistosporic; hyaline to white, or pink; smooth; inamyloid.
The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer. The hyphae monomitic. The generative hyphae not inflated.
Chemical reactions. The context hyphae not xanthochroic.
Ecology. Saprophytic, or parasitic and saprophytic. The fruit-bodies only on dead wood (?), or on dead wood and on living wood (?). Associated with conifers (Abies). The fruit-bodies on dead trees and fallen logs, on trunks and branches of living trees and on dead trees and fallen logs (?).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 1 species in Britain; Veluticeps abietina.
World representation. 15 species; genera 4. North temperate, widespread.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Polyporales.
Illustrations. • Veluticeps abietina (Læssøe & Petersens). BOREOSTEREACEAE. Veluticeps abietina. Photos from www.mycokey.com (Thomas Læssøe & Jens H. Petersens).
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’.
