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| The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing basidia and basidiospores; ephemeral to persistent; simple, or compound; clustered, or solitary; spathulate, or fan-shaped, or discoid, cup- or funnel-shaped with the hymenium on top (then flask-shaped or infundibuliform); small to large, or very large (e.g., the multipileate Podoscypha multizonata); white or whitish to cream or yellowish, or buff, or straw-coloured, or yellowish-brown to light brown, or yellow (etc.). The hymenium often with skeletocystidia, ribbed, or with pegs or spinose (then tuberculate), or smooth. The hymenial layer not readily separable from the supporting flesh. The hymenium not thickening (catahymenial). Cystidia often present; skeletocystidia. The basidia ‘unmodified’. The basidiospores ballistosporic; hyaline, or white; smooth; inamyloid.
The hyphae with clamp connections, or without clamp connections. The hyphal walls lamellate, with a thin, electron-dense outer layer and a relatively thick, electron-transparent inner layer. The hyphae monomitic, or dimitic. The generative hyphae not inflated.
Ecology. Parasitic; on vascular plants (e.g., on tree roots), or on mosses (e.g., on Polytrichum). The fruit-bodies borne on the ground, or on dead wood, or on living wood (?).
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 6 species in Britain; Cotylidia, Cyphellostereum, Podoscypha, Pseudolasiobolus, Stereopsis.
World representation. 70 species; genera 11. Widespread, especially tropical.
Classification. Basidiomycota; Basidiomycetes; Agaricomycetidae; Polyporales (formerly Stereales).
Illustrations. • Podoscypha multizonata (Læssøe). PODOSCYPHACEAE. Podoscypha multizonata. Photos from www.mycokey.com (Thomas Læssøe). • Cyphellostereum laeve and Stereopsis vitellina (Petersens). PODOSCYPHACEAE. 1, Cyphellostereum laeve. 2, Stereopsis vitellina. Photos from www.mycokey.com (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’.
