Helotiales
Encyclopedia
Helotiales is an order
of the class Leotiomycetes
within the division Ascomycota
. According to a 2008 estimate, the order contains 10 families
, 501 genera
, and 3881 species
.
Helotiales is the largest order of inoperculate discomycetes. It contains the famous blue-green cup fungi that makes its home on oak
s is known by the genus name Chlorociboria
.
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 the class Leotiomycetes
Leotiomycetes
The Leotiomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi. Many of them cause serious plant diseases.-Systematics:The class Leotiomycetes contains numerous species with an anamorph placed within the fungi imperfecti , that have only recently found their place in the phylogenetic system...
within the division Ascomycota
Ascomycota
The Ascomycota are a Division/Phylum of the kingdom Fungi, and subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the Sac fungi. They are the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species...
. According to a 2008 estimate, the order contains 10 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...
, 501 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 3881 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...
.
Helotiales is the largest order of inoperculate discomycetes. It contains the famous blue-green cup fungi that makes its home on oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
s is known by the genus name Chlorociboria
Chlorociboria
Chlorociboria is a genus of fungi within the subphylum Pezizomycetes. The genus contains 17 species.There are two known species, Chlorociboria aeruginascens and Chlorociboria aeruginosa, which can only reliably be distinguished by microscopic examination. C...
.
Habit
- Helotiales is distinguished by its disc or cup-shaped apothecia.
- Its asciAscusAn ascus is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. On average, asci normally contain eight ascospores, produced by a meiotic cell division followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can number one , two, four, or multiples...
are only slightly thickened in contrast to other LeotiomycetesLeotiomycetesThe Leotiomycetes are a class of ascomycete fungi. Many of them cause serious plant diseases.-Systematics:The class Leotiomycetes contains numerous species with an anamorph placed within the fungi imperfecti , that have only recently found their place in the phylogenetic system...
- Most Helotiales live as saprobes on soil humus, dead logs, manure, and other organic matter.
- Contains some of the worst plant pathogenPathogenA pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s such as Monilinia fructicolaMonilinia fructicolaMonilinia fructicola is a species of fungus in the order Helotiales. A plant pathogen, it is the causal agent of brown rot of stone fruits.-Stone Fruit :...
(Brown rotWood-decay fungusA wood-decay fungus is a variety of fungus that digests moist wood, causing it to rot. Some wood-decay fungi attack dead wood, such as brown rot, and some, such as Armillaria , are parasitic and colonize living trees. Fungi that not only grow on wood but actually cause it to decay, are called...
on stone fruits), Sclerotinia sclerotiorumSclerotinia sclerotiorumSclerotinia sclerotiorum is a plant pathogenic fungus and can cause a disease called white mold if conditions are correct. S. sclerotiorum can also be known as cottony rot, watery soft rot, stem rot, drop, crown rot and blossom blight...
(Lettuce drop and other diseases), D. rosae (black spot of roses), Sclerotium cepivorum (Soft rot of onions)