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Stinkhorns and bird's-nest fungi

17 articles

Clathrus archeri

Clathrus archeri (octopus stinkhorn, devil's fingers; syn. Anthurus archeri) is a red-armed saprobic stinkhorn fungus native to Australia and New Zealand, introduced to Europe around 1920, potentially invasive, with future range contraction expected in Australia and expansion in Europe.

Clathrus ruber

Clathrus ruber (red cage, latticed or basket stinkhorn), type species of Clathrus in Phallales, is a saprophytic fungus whose fruit body expands from a whitish egg into a red lattice ball with foul olive-green gleba dispersed by insects; native to Mediterranean Europe, introduced elsewhere.

Crucibulum

Crucibulum is a small genus of bird's nest fungi whose urn-shaped fruiting bodies contain whitish spore packets that raindrops splash out to adhere to nearby surfaces.

Cyathus

Cyathus (bird's nest fungi) is a genus of gasteroid fungi in Nidulariaceae, established 1768, with over 130 cup-shaped species whose peridioles are splash-dispersed by raindrops and attached by funicular cords.

Cyathus olla

Cyathus olla, the field bird's nest fungus (Nidulariaceae), is a 1–1.5 cm splash-cup basidiomycete with 8–10 large peridioles ejected by raindrops; basionym Peziza olla Batsch 1783, common in Europe and North America.

Cyathus stercoreus

Cyathus stercoreus, the dung bird's nest fungus (Nidulariaceae, Basidiomycota), a coprophilous splash-cup fungus with huge 20-40 µm spores, peridioles dispersed by rain and herbivore gut passage, and lignin-degrading enzymes.

Cyathus striatus

Cyathus striatus, the fluted bird's nest fungus, a saprobic Nidulariaceae basidiomycete with shaggy brown cups, striated inner walls, peridioles with funiculi, and rain splash-cup spore dispersal on woody debris.

Mutinus elegans

Mutinus elegans, the elegant stinkhorn or devil's dipstick, a Phallaceae fungus with a pink-orange hollow stalk and olive-green foul gleba; insect-dispersed spores, edible egg stage, distinct from M. caninus and Phallus rubicundus.

Nidula

Nidula is a genus of bird's nest fungi (Nidulariaceae, Agaricales), described in 1902 with about seven accepted species such as N. candida and N. shingbaensis; its cordless, gel-embedded, sticky peridioles distinguish it from Cyathus and Crucibulum.

Nidularia

Nidularia (Fr. 1817) is the type genus of the bird's nest fungi family Nidulariaceae, with globose fruiting bodies whose thin peridium dehisces at maturity; peridioles lack funiculi, sit in gel, and splash only about 1.5 cm, unlike Cyathus and Crucibulum.

Nidulariaceae

Nidulariaceae, the bird's nest fungi, are saprotrophic Agaricales (Basidiomycota) with cup-shaped fruiting bodies whose peridioles are rain-splash dispersed; genera include Cyathus, Crucibulum, Nidula, Nidularia, Mycocalia, and Retiperidiolia.

Phallaceae

Phallaceae, the stinkhorn family (Corda, 1842), are gasteroid Basidiomycota fungi in Phallales whose foul-smelling gleba attracts insects for spore dispersal; fruit bodies emerge from eggs within minutes and include edible Phallus species.

Phallales

Phallales is an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes whose best-known members are the stinkhorns, foul-smelling fungi that rely on insects rather than wind to disperse their spores.

Phallus impudicus

Phallus impudicus, the common stinkhorn, is a basidiomycete fungus (Phallales, Phallaceae) described by Linnaeus in 1753, whose fetid gleba attracts spore-dispersing flies; egg stage considered edible.

Phallus indusiatus

Phallus indusiatus, the bridal veil stinkhorn or veiled lady (synonym Dictyophora indusiata), is a tropical Phallaceae fungus with a lacy white indusium, insect-dispersed spores, edible and used in Chinese medicine since 618 AD; a species complex once thought circum-tropical.

Sphaerobolus

Sphaerobolus, the artillery or cannonball fungus (Geastraceae, Basidiomycota), ejects a 1-mm gleba up to 6 m by osmotic membrane eversion; species include S. stellatus, S. iowensis, and S. ingoldii.

Stinkhorn and nidularioid ecology and dispersal

Stinkhorn and nidularioid ecology and dispersal covers how gasteroid fungi spread spores they cannot launch themselves: stinkhorns lure insects with carrion-like odors, while bird's-nest fungi eject spore packets with raindrops.