Cantharellales
Encyclopedia
The Cantharellales are an order
of fungi in the class
Agaricomycetes
. The order includes not only the chanterelles (Cantharellaceae
), but also some of the tooth fungi (Hydnaceae
), clavarioid fungi
(Aphelariaceae
and Clavulinaceae
), and corticioid fungi
(Botryobasidiaceae
). Species within the order are variously ectomycorrhizal, saprotrophic, associated with orchids, or facultative
plant pathogens. Those of economic importance include edible
and commercially collected Cantharellus
, Craterellus
, and Hydnum
species as well as crop pathogens in the genera Ceratobasidium
and Thanatephorus (Rhizoctonia
).
Basidiomycota
having "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally). On this basis, he included three families within the Cantharellales: the Cantharellaceae
(including the Hydnaceae
), the Clavulinaceae
, and the Exobasidiaceae
. The last group are now placed within the Exobasidiales
.
By 1995, the order had been amended (based on micromorphological research) to include not only the Cantharellaceae
, but also the Aphelariaceae
, Clavariaceae
, Clavariadelphaceae
, Clavulinaceae
, Craterellaceae, Hydnaceae
, Physalacriaceae
, Pterulaceae
, Scutigeraceae, Sparassidaceae
, and Typhulaceae
.
), Botryobasidiaceae
(corticioid fungi
), Ceratobasidiaceae
(heterobasidiomycetes), Clavulinaceae (clavarioid fungi), Hydnaceae (tooth fungi), and Tulasnellaceae
(heterobasidiomycetes). The Clavariaceae, Physalacriaceae, Pterulaceae, and Typhulaceae, previously included within the order, are now placed within the Agaricales
; the Clavariadelphaceae are now in the Gomphales
; the Sparassidaceae in the Polyporales
. The Scutigeraceae have been replaced by the Albatrellaceae
within the Russulales
. According to a 2008 estimate, the order contains 7 families
, 38 genera
, and 544 species
.
plant pathogens. Species in the Tulasnellaceae are saprotrophic, but are also associated with orchid mycorrhiza
, as are some species in the Ceratobasidiaceae. Distribution is cosmopolitan
.
species, particularly Hydnum repandum, are edible and widely collected on a commercial scale. They are marketed fresh or processed and traded internationally. Several species in the Ceratobasidiaceae, notably Rhizoctonia solani
, cause significant diseases of cereals and other commercial crops, as well as turf grass.
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
of fungi in the class
Class (biology)
In biological classification, class is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order...
Agaricomycetes
Agaricomycetes
Agaricomycetes is a class of fungi. The taxon is roughly identical to that defined for the Homobasidiomycetes by Hibbett & Thorn, with the inclusion of Auriculariales and Sebacinales. It includes not only mushrooms but also most species placed in the deprecated taxa Gasteromycetes and...
. The order includes not only the chanterelles (Cantharellaceae
Cantharellaceae
The Cantharellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains the chanterelles and related species, a group of fungi that superficially resemble agarics but have smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like hymenophores...
), but also some of the tooth fungi (Hydnaceae
Hydnaceae
The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not...
), clavarioid fungi
Clavarioid fungi
The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fungi and coral fungi...
(Aphelariaceae
Aphelariaceae
The Aphelariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains a small group of tropical and subtropical clavarioid fungi, but is not well characterized and has not been the subject of published research.-Taxonomy:...
and Clavulinaceae
Clavulinaceae
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi as well as some corticioid fungi...
), and corticioid fungi
Corticioid fungi
The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps that are formed on the undersides of dead attached or fallen branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or patch fungi...
(Botryobasidiaceae
Botryobasidiaceae
The Botryobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains a group of corticioid fungi that form thin, web-like basidiocarps. Some species form asexual anamorphs producing chlamydospores. All are believed to be wood-rotting or litter-rotting saprotrophs...
). Species within the order are variously ectomycorrhizal, saprotrophic, associated with orchids, or facultative
Facultative
Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" , used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Facultative anaerobe, an organism that can use oxygen but also has anaerobic methods of energy production...
plant pathogens. Those of economic importance include edible
Edible mushroom
Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruiting bodies of several species of fungi. Mushrooms belong to the macrofungi, because their fruiting structures are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. They can appear either below ground or above ground where they may be picked by hand...
and commercially collected Cantharellus
Cantharellus
Cantharellus is a genus of popular edible mushrooms, commonly known as chanterelles . They are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form symbiotic associations with plants, making them very difficult to cultivate...
, Craterellus
Craterellus
Craterellus is a genus of generally edible fungi similar to the closely related chanterelles, with some species recently reassigned to this genus. They are distinguished by their lack of gill-like structures on the underside of their caps....
, and Hydnum
Hydnum
Hydnum is a genus of fungi in the Hydnaceae family. They are notable for their unusual spore-bearing structures of teeth rather than gills. The best known are the edible species Hydnum repandum and H. rufescens. The word is derived from udnon/ύδνον, an Ancient Greek word for truffle...
species as well as crop pathogens in the genera Ceratobasidium
Ceratobasidium
Ceratobasidium is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps are effused and the genus is sometimes grouped among the corticioid fungi, though species also retain features of the heterobasidiomycetes. Rhizoctonia-like anamorphs of Ceratobasidium species are placed in the genus...
and Thanatephorus (Rhizoctonia
Rhizoctonia
Rhizoctonia is a genus of anamorphic fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species do not produce spores, but are composed of hyphae and sclerotia and are asexual states of fungi in the genus Thanatephorus. Rhizoctonia species are saprotrophic, but are also facultative plant pathogens, causing...
).
Taxonomy
The order was originally proposed in 1926 by German mycologist Ernst Albert Gäumann to accommodate species within the phylumPhylum
In biology, a phylum The term was coined by Georges Cuvier from Greek φῦλον phylon, "race, stock," related to φυλή phyle, "tribe, clan." is a taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. "Phylum" is equivalent to the botanical term division....
Basidiomycota
Basidiomycota
Basidiomycota is one of two large phyla that, together with the Ascomycota, comprise the subkingdom Dikarya within the Kingdom Fungi...
having "stichic" basidia (basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally). On this basis, he included three families within the Cantharellales: the Cantharellaceae
Cantharellaceae
The Cantharellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains the chanterelles and related species, a group of fungi that superficially resemble agarics but have smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like hymenophores...
(including the Hydnaceae
Hydnaceae
The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not...
), the Clavulinaceae
Clavulinaceae
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi as well as some corticioid fungi...
, and the Exobasidiaceae
Exobasidiaceae
The Exobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the Basidiomycota, Exobasidiales order. The family contains 5 genera and 56 species. Species in the family have a widespread distribution, especially in temperate areas. Members of the Exobasidiaceae are plant pathogens that grow on the leaves of plants,...
. The last group are now placed within the Exobasidiales
Exobasidiales
The Exobasidiales are an order of fungi in the class Exobasidiomycetes. The order consists of four families as well as one genus, Cladosterigma, not assigned to any family....
.
By 1995, the order had been amended (based on micromorphological research) to include not only the Cantharellaceae
Cantharellaceae
The Cantharellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains the chanterelles and related species, a group of fungi that superficially resemble agarics but have smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like hymenophores...
, but also the Aphelariaceae
Aphelariaceae
The Aphelariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains a small group of tropical and subtropical clavarioid fungi, but is not well characterized and has not been the subject of published research.-Taxonomy:...
, Clavariaceae
Clavariaceae
The Clavariaceae are a family of fungi in the Agaricales order of mushrooms. The family contains 7 genera and 120 species. Collectively, they are commonly known as coral fungi due to their resemblance to aquatic coral, although other vernacular names including antler fungi, finger fungi, worm mold,...
, Clavariadelphaceae
Clavariadelphaceae
The Clavariadelphaceae are a family of fungi belonging in what is classically known as the Gomphales order, or cladistically as the gomphoid-phalloid clade. First described by British botanist E.J.H. Corner in 1970, the family has 2 genera and 26 species....
, Clavulinaceae
Clavulinaceae
The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi as well as some corticioid fungi...
, Craterellaceae, Hydnaceae
Hydnaceae
The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps having a hymenium consisting of slender, downward-hanging tapering extensions referred to as "spines" or "teeth", whether they were related or not...
, Physalacriaceae
Physalacriaceae
Physalacriaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Species in the genus have a widespread distribution, but most are found in the tropics, particularly in South-East Asia and Australasia. Molecular studies suggested that Physalacria, formerly the sole genus in this family, is related to...
, Pterulaceae
Pterulaceae
The Pterulaceae are a family of fungi in the Agaricales order. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 99 species distributed among 12 genera....
, Scutigeraceae, Sparassidaceae
Sparassidaceae
The Sparassidaceae are a family of fungi in the order Polyporales.-External links:*...
, and Typhulaceae
Typhulaceae
The Typhulaceae are a family of fungi in the Agaricales order. The family contains 6 genera and 229 species....
.
Current status
Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, has redefined the Cantharellales. As well as the Cantharellaceae (chanterelles and their allies, inclusive of the Craterellaceae), the order currently comprises fungi with morphologically diverse sporocarps (fruit bodies) within the Aphelariaceae (clavarioid fungiClavarioid fungi
The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fungi and coral fungi...
), Botryobasidiaceae
Botryobasidiaceae
The Botryobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family contains a group of corticioid fungi that form thin, web-like basidiocarps. Some species form asexual anamorphs producing chlamydospores. All are believed to be wood-rotting or litter-rotting saprotrophs...
(corticioid fungi
Corticioid fungi
The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps that are formed on the undersides of dead attached or fallen branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or patch fungi...
), Ceratobasidiaceae
Ceratobasidiaceae
The Ceratobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. All species within the family have basidiocarps that are thin and effused. They have sometimes been included within the corticioid fungi or alternatively within the "heterobasidiomycetes". Species are saprotrophic, but some...
(heterobasidiomycetes), Clavulinaceae (clavarioid fungi), Hydnaceae (tooth fungi), and Tulasnellaceae
Tulasnellaceae
The Tulasnellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family comprises mainly effused fungi formerly referred to the "jelly fungi" or heterobasidiomycetes...
(heterobasidiomycetes). The Clavariaceae, Physalacriaceae, Pterulaceae, and Typhulaceae, previously included within the order, are now placed within the Agaricales
Agaricales
The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms , or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13000 described species, along with five extinct genera known only from the fossil record...
; the Clavariadelphaceae are now in the Gomphales
Gomphales
The Gomphales are an order of basidiomycete fungi. Some or all families belonging to Gomphales have been sometimes included in the order Phallales ,...
; the Sparassidaceae in the Polyporales
Polyporales
The Polyporales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. The order includes some polypores as well as many corticioid fungi and a few agarics . Species within the order are saprotrophic, most of them wood-rotters...
. The Scutigeraceae have been replaced by the Albatrellaceae
Albatrellaceae
The Albatrellaceae are a family of fungi in the Polyporales order. The family contains 7 genera and 45 species.-Description:Species in the family produce fruit bodies which have typical mushroom morphology, with caps and stems.-Genera and species:...
within the Russulales
Russulales
The Russulales are an order of the Agaricomycetes,...
. According to a 2008 estimate, the order contains 7 families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
, 38 genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
, and 544 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
.
Habitat and distribution
Most fungi within the order are ectomycorrhizal, forming mutually beneficial associations with certain trees, shrubs, and other vascular plants. Species in the Botryobasidiaceae are believed to be saprotrophs of fallen wood and leaf litter. Species in the Ceratobasidiaceae are also saprotrophs, but some are capable of becoming facultativeFacultative
Facultative means "optional" or "discretionary" , used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Facultative anaerobe, an organism that can use oxygen but also has anaerobic methods of energy production...
plant pathogens. Species in the Tulasnellaceae are saprotrophic, but are also associated with orchid mycorrhiza
Orchid mycorrhiza
Orchid mycorrhizae are symbiotic relationships between the roots of plants of the family Orchidaceae and a variety of fungi. All orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle. Orchid mycorrhizae are critically important during orchid germination, as orchid seed has virtually no...
, as are some species in the Ceratobasidiaceae. Distribution is cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...
.
Economic importance
Sporocarps (fruit bodies) of chanterelles and some HydnumHydnum
Hydnum is a genus of fungi in the Hydnaceae family. They are notable for their unusual spore-bearing structures of teeth rather than gills. The best known are the edible species Hydnum repandum and H. rufescens. The word is derived from udnon/ύδνον, an Ancient Greek word for truffle...
species, particularly Hydnum repandum, are edible and widely collected on a commercial scale. They are marketed fresh or processed and traded internationally. Several species in the Ceratobasidiaceae, notably Rhizoctonia solani
Rhizoctonia solani
Rhizoctonia solani is a plant pathogenic fungus with a wide host range and worldwide distribution. This plant pathogen was discovered more than 100 years ago. Rhizoctonia solani frequently exists as thread-like growth on plants or in culture. Asexual spores are not produced, only the sexual stage...
, cause significant diseases of cereals and other commercial crops, as well as turf grass.