edgepedia

Fungi and mycology

727 articles

Clavulina

Clavulina J. Schröt. is a genus of about 52 clavarioid (coral-like) basidiomycete fungi in Cantharellales, Hydnaceae, defined by two-spored stichic basidia; not to be confused with the foraminiferan genus Clavulina d'Orbigny, 1826.

Clavulina cristata

Clavulina cristata, also called Clavulina coralloides or crested coral, is a common white ectomycorrhizal coral fungus of temperate woodland, with crested branch tips, two-spored basidia, and frequent blackening by the parasite Helminthosphaeria clavariarum.

Clavulinaceae

Clavulinaceae Donk (1970), fairy-club fungi, a family in Cantharellales, Basidiomycota, typified by Clavulina; includes Clavulina, Membranomyces, and Multiclavula. Molecular work proposes synonymy with Hydnaceae, though some databases still accept it.

Clitocybe

Clitocybe (funnel caps) is a genus of white-spored agaric fungi in Clitocybaceae, type species C. nebularis. Many species contain muscarine (up to 1.6% by weight); molecular work has moved most species to Collybia and allied genera.

Clitocybe dealbata

Clitocybe dealbata, Ivory Funnel, basionym Agaricus dealbatus, is a small white muscarine-containing grassland mushroom (3-4% muscarine, sweating syndrome), often synonymized with Clitocybe rivulosa and confused with edible Marasmius oreades.

Clitocybe nebularis

Clitocybe nebularis, known as the clouded agaric or clouded funnel, is a large gray-capped woodland mushroom that fruits in autumn and causes gastrointestinal poisoning in some people.

Clitocybe nuda

Clitocybe nuda, the wood blewit (also Lepista nuda, now Collybia nuda), is an edible lilac-capped saprobic mushroom of woodland leaf litter, fruiting August to December across Europe and North America.

Clitocybe rivulosa

Clitocybe rivulosa, Fool's Funnel (syn. C. dealbata; now Collybia rivulosa), a small deadly poisonous white grassland mushroom of Europe and North America containing muscarine, easily confused with edible Marasmius oreades.

Clitopilus prunulus

Clitopilus prunulus, the Miller or sweetbread mushroom, is an edible Entolomataceae fungus with a mealy odor, decurrent pink gills, and ribbed pink spores, but it resembles toxic Clitocybe species.

Coccidioides immitis

Coccidioides immitis is a dimorphic soil fungus of California deserts causing coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever); named in 1896, split from C. posadasii in 2002, forming spherules with endospores in lung tissue.

Coelomomyces

Coelomomyces, a genus of over 80 obligately parasitic blastoclad water moulds, kills mosquito larvae via a two-host life cycle alternating with copepods; no species has been cultured in vitro, limiting its biological control use.

Colletotrichum

Colletotrichum (Corda, 1831) is a genus of ascomycete fungi, family Glomerellaceae, of major plant pathogens causing anthracnose on crops, plus endophytes and rare human pathogens; species are grouped into about 16 species complexes and identified by multilocus markers.

Collybia

Collybia is a genus of mushroom-forming fungi in the family Clitocybaceae, named by Staude in 1857. Its species are saprobes that grow from sclerotia or decaying mushroom remains.

Conservation of fungi

Conservation of fungi: protecting fungal species and habitats via the IUCN Red List, law, and policy. 1,302 fungi assessed by 2025, 411 threatened; threats include habitat loss, pollution, climate change.

Coprinopsis atramentaria

Coprinopsis atramentaria, the common inkcap (formerly Coprinus atramentarius), is a grey, cluster-forming inky cap mushroom of Psathyrellaceae that grows over buried wood and causes flushing, dizziness, and headaches if eaten with alcohol.

Coprinus comatus

Coprinus comatus (shaggy mane, lawyer's wig) is an edible Agaricaceae mushroom whose gills autolyze into black ink. Cultivated in Asia; studied for hypoglycemic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and antiandrogenic activities.

Cora (fungus)

Cora (Fr.) is a genus of foliose, cyanobacterial basidiolichens in Lichenomphaliaceae, Dictyonema clade, tropical America; once treated as one species, now over 100 described species with 450 predicted via ITS barcoding.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps, a genus of insect-parasitizing ascomycete fungi (Hypocreales); type species Cordyceps militaris. Once ~1,300 species broad, now split into Cordycipitaceae and Ophiocordycipitaceae; the famous caterpillar fungus is Ophiocordyceps sinensis.

Coriolopsis gallica

Coriolopsis gallica (Brownflesh Bracket), a white-rot Polyporaceae fungus (basionym Polyporus gallicus Fr. 1821), studied for laccases and peroxidases used in decolorizing tannin, olive-mill, and textile wastewaters and degrading fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

Corn smut

Corn smut, also known as huitlacoche, is a plant disease of maize caused by the fungus Ustilago maydis; its immature galls are eaten as a delicacy in Mexico.

Cortinariaceae

Cortinariaceae, a family of ectomycorrhizal Agaricales fungi long containing only the huge genus Cortinarius; split into ten genera by a 2022 phylogenomic revision, a division contested in 2024.

Cortinarius

Cortinarius, the largest Agaricales mushroom genus with over 3,000 ectomycorrhizal species worldwide; its section-level taxonomy is settled but a contested 2022 split into ten genera remains disputed.

Cortinarius caperatus

Cortinarius caperatus, the gypsy mushroom (formerly Rozites caperata), is an edible ectomycorrhizal webcap with a wrinkled, silvery-bloomed ochre cap and a persistent membranous ring, distinguished from deadly orellanine-containing webcaps by that ring.

Cortinarius in Australia and New Zealand

Cortinarius in Australia and New Zealand refers to the Australasian species of Cortinarius, the most species-rich mushroom genus, with distinctive endemic lineages including pouch fungi and a large Tasmanian radiation.

Cortinarius iodes

Cortinarius iodes, the viscid violet cort or spotted cort, is a slimy purple oak-associated Cortinarius mushroom of eastern North America, separated from its twin C. iodeoides by mild cap slime and larger spores.

Cortinarius orellanus

Cortinarius orellanus, the fool's webcap, is a deadly poisonous Cortinariaceae mushroom described by Fries in 1838, containing the nephrotoxin orellanine; symptoms appear one to two weeks after ingestion and there is no antidote.

Cortinarius rubellus

Cortinarius rubellus, the deadly webcap (synonym C. speciosissimus), is a boreal orange-brown webcap fungus containing the nephrotoxin orellanine, which causes delayed acute kidney injury one to two weeks after ingestion.

Cortinarius violaceus

Cortinarius violaceus, the violet webcap (Agaricus violaceus L. 1753), is the type species of the genus Cortinarius: an entirely dark violet ectomycorrhizal mushroom with a rusty brown spore print, (R)-beta-dopa pigment, and a red KOH reaction.

Craterellus

Craterellus (black trumpets, winter chanterelles) is a genus of Hydnaceae fungi with funnel-shaped, hollow-stiped fruiting bodies, typified by C. cornucopioides; ectomycorrhizal, edible, with about 57 accepted species.

Craterellus cornucopioides

Craterellus cornucopioides, the black trumpet or horn of plenty, is an edible ectomycorrhizal fungus with dark hollow trumpet fruiting bodies, white spore print, spores 10–14 × 6.5–9 µm, and no developed cultivation.