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| The families of mushrooms and toadstools represented in Britain and Ireland |
Morphology. The fruit-bodies producing asci and ascospores; large, more or less globose (thick walled, solid, the asci forming in marbled veins interspersed with sterile tissue, interascal tissue absent); gymnocarpic; cleistothecial; stromata absent. The asci cylindrical, persistent; asci inoperculate. The walls of the asci not staining blue with iodine. The ascospores globose; ornamented; pale brown, or hyaline; simple.
The hyphae without clamp connections. The hyphal walls lamellate, double layered, with both layers electron dense.
Ecology. Saprophytic. The fruit-bodies subterranean, or subterranean to not subterranean (sometimes emergent); if more or less epigeal, borne on the ground. Seemingly associated especially with Helianthemum and Cistus.
Representation in Britain and Ireland. 1 species in Britain (T. arenaria); Terfezia.
World representation. 20 species; genera 4. Widespread, especially in dry conditions.
Classification. Ascomycota; Ascomycetes; Pezizomycetidae; Pezizales.
Comments. Edible.
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’.