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The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland

L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz

Peniophoraceae

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 (resupinate to effuso-reflexed, waxy to crustose); of indeterminate dimensions. The hymenium smooth (but then papillate), or irregularly folded, ridged or wrinkled; not thickening. Cystidia (hymenial) present; gloeocystidia (or metuloids, lycocystidia absent). The basidia ‘unmodified’; not of the ceratobasidialean type (q.v.). The basidiospores ballistosporic; white, or pink (generating a pinkish spore print); 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.

Ecology. Saprophytic.

Representation in Britain and Ireland. About 25 species in Britain; Peniophora.

World representation. 81 species; genera 4. “Widespread”.

Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Russulales (formerly Stereales).

Illustrations. • Peniophora quercina (LH). PENIOPHORACEAE. Peniophora quercina. Sunesen & Dahlstrøm, in Lange & Hora (1965).


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’.

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