Russulales
Encyclopedia
The Russulales are an order
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 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...

, (which include the agaric genera Russula
Russula
Around 750 worldwide species of mycorrhizal mushrooms compose the genus Russula. They are typically common, fairly large, and brightly colored - making them one of the most recognizable genera among mycologists and mushroom collectors...

and Lactarius
Lactarius
Lactarius is a genus of mushroom-producing fungi. The genus, collectively known commonly as milk-caps, are characterized by the fact that they exude a milky fluid if cut or damaged...

and their polyporoid
Polypore
Polypores are a group of tough, leathery poroid mushrooms similar to boletes, but typically lacking a distinct stalk. The technical distinction between the two types of mushrooms is that polypores do not have the spore-bearing tissue continuous along the entire underside of the mushroom. Many...

 and corticioid relatives). According to the Dictionary of the Fungi (10th edition, 2008), the order consists of 12 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...

, 80 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 1767 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...

.

Russuloid agarics represent an independent evolutionary line of agarics, not directly related to 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...

.

This group also includes a number of russuloid hypogeous fungi, polypores such as Bondarzewia
Bondarzewia
Bondarzewia is a genus of fungi in the family Bondarzewiaceae. The genus is widely distributed and contains three species....

, some tooth fungi, and club fungi e.g. Artomyces
Artomyces
Artomyces is a genus of fungi in the family Auriscalpiaceae. It was circumscribed by Walter Jülich in 1982, who set Artomyces pyxidatus Artomyces is a genus of fungi in the family Auriscalpiaceae. It was circumscribed by Walter Jülich in 1982, who set Artomyces pyxidatus Artomyces is a genus of...

. Basidiospores in this group are typically ornamented with amyloid
Amyloid
Amyloids are insoluble fibrous protein aggregates sharing specific structural traits. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid in organs may lead to amyloidosis, and may play a role in various neurodegenerative diseases.-Definition:...

 warts or reticulation but a few exceptions are known, e.g. Heterobasidion annosum
Heterobasidion annosum
Heterobasidion annosum is a basidiomycete fungus in the family Bondarzewiaceae. It is considered to be the most economically important forest pathogen in the Northern Hemisphere. Heterobasidion annosum is widespread in forests in the United States and is responsible for the loss of one billion U.S....

. The genus Clavicorona
Clavicorona
Clavicorona is a genus of mushrooms in the family Auriscalpiaceae. The genus was first described by Doty in 1947.-External links:* at Index Fungorum...

was often treated in the Russulales, but its type species, C. taxophila is in 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 remaining species are retained in the Russulales in the genus Artomyces.

External links

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