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| The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
‘Chanterelles’, ’Horn of Plenty’, ‘Club Fungi’, ‘Coral Fungi’.
Including Craterellaceae
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; ephemeral; simple; solitary (commonly), or clustered; differentiated into a stipe and pileus with the hymenium underneath the latter (fleshy with a solid stipe in Cantharellus, leathery with a hollow stipe in Craterellus); small to large; (1–)2–12 cm across. The mature pileus deeply concave. The fruit-bodies brightly pigmented to not brightly pigmented; dark brown, or yellow, or grey, or blackish, or yellow and blackish. The top of the pileus apricot yellow, or dark brown, or grey, or blackish. The stipe with neither ring nor volva. The hymenium ribbed (with strong radial folds and interveining, in Cantharellus), or smooth to irregularly folded, ridged or wrinkled (Craterellus); thickening. The hymenophore decurrent. The basidia ‘unmodified’. The basidiospores hyaline; 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 inflated.
Chemical reactions. The context hyphae not xanthochroic; negative to ferric chloride.
Ecology. Saprophytic. The fruit-bodies borne on the ground (humicolous). Found in coniferous woodland, in broad-leaved woodland, and in mixed woodland (among dead leaves, often around dead tree stumps).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 17 species in Britain; Cantharellus, Craterellus, Pseudocraterellus.
World representation. 92 species; genera 5. Widespread.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Cantharellales.
Comments. Edible (delicious, especially the Chanterelles, and easily and effectively dried).
Illustrations. • Craterellus cornucopoides, Cantharellus cibarinus, C. cinereus, C. tubaeformis (LH). CANTHARELLACEAE. 1, Craterellus cornucopoides (Horn of Plenty); 2, Cantherellus cibarius (Chanterelle); 3, Cantharellus cinereus; 4, Cantharellus tubaeformis. Sunesen & Dahlstrøm, in Lange & Hora (1965). • Craterellus cornucopioides (Berkeley). CANTHERELLACEAE. 6, Craterellus cornucopioides (L.) Pers. FOMITOPSIDACEAE. 5, Daedalea quercina (L.) Pers. 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. 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’.
