The Cantharellaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

Cantharellales 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 cortici ...

. The family contains the chanterelles and related species, a group of fungi that superficially resemble

agarics An agaric () is a type of fungus fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe (stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. In the UK, agarics are called "mushroom ...

(gilled mushrooms) but have smooth, wrinkled, or gill-like hymenophores (spore-bearing undersurfaces). Species in the family are

ectomycorrhizal An ectomycorrhiza (from Greek ἐκτός ', "outside", μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. ectomycorrhizas or ectomycorrhizae, abbreviated EcM) is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or my ...

, forming a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of trees and other plants. Many of the Cantharellaceae, including the chanterelle (''

Cantharellus cibarius ''Cantharellus cibarius'' (Latin: ''cantharellus'', "chanterelle"; ''cibarius'', "culinary") is a species of golden chanterelle mushroom in the genus ''Cantharellus''. It is also known as girolle (or ''girole''). It grows in Europe from Scandi ...

''), the Pacific golden chanterelle (''

Cantharellus formosus ''Cantharellus formosus'', commonly known as the Pacific golden chanterelle, is a fungus native to the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It is a member of the genus ''Cantharellus'' along with other popular edible chanterelles. It was ...

''), the horn of plenty ('' Craterellus cornucopioides''), and the trumpet chanterelle ('' Craterellus tubaeformis''), are not only edible, but are collected and marketed internationally on a commercial scale.

Taxonomy

History

The family was originally described in 1888 by German

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as ...

Joseph Schröter Joseph Schröter (14 March 1837 – 12 December 1894) was a noted German mycologist, doctor and scientist. He wrote several books and texts, and discovered and described many species of flora and fungi. He also spent around fifteen years, from 187 ...

to accommodate the chanterelles, which at that time were thought to be an evolutionary link between "primitive" ''

Thelephora ''Thelephora'' is a genus of fungi in the family Thelephoraceae. The genus has a widespread distribution and contains about 50 species. Fruit bodies of species are leathery, usually brownish at maturity, and range in shape from coral-like tufts t ...

'' species with smooth hymenophores (spore-bearing surfaces) and more "advanced" ''

Agaricus ''Agaricus'' is a genus of mushrooms containing both edible and poisonous species, with over 400 members worldwide and possibly again as many disputed or newly-discovered species. The genus includes the common ("button") mushroom ('' Agaricus bi ...

'' species with gilled hymenophores. In 1903, French mycologist

René Maire René Charles Joseph Ernest Maire (29 May 1878, Lons-le-Saunier – 24 November 1949) was a French botanist and mycologist. His major work was the ''Flore de l'Afrique du Nord'' in 16 volumes published posthumously in 1953. He collected plants fro ...

proposed a new classification system that emphasized the possession of "stichic"

basidia A basidium () is a microscopic sporangium (a spore-producing structure) found on the hymenophore of fruiting bodies of basidiomycete fungi which are also called tertiary mycelium, developed from secondary mycelium. Tertiary mycelium is highly- ...

(basidia with nuclear spindles arranged longitudinally), a characteristic of the Cantharellaceae that linked the family to the

Hydnaceae The Hydnaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Originally the family encompassed all species of fungi that produced basidiocarps (fruit bodies) having a hymenium (spore-bearing surface) consisting of slender, downward-hanging ta ...

and

Clavulinaceae The Clavulinaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid (club and coral) fungi as well as some corticioid (crust- and patch-forming) fungi. These species ...

. This led Ernst Albert Gäumann to include the genus ''

Hydnum ''Hydnum'' is a genus of fungi in the family Hydnaceae. 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''. There are no known t ...

'' (the hedgehog fungi) within the Cantharellaceae. In his 1964 survey of fungal families, Dutch mycologist

Marinus Anton Donk Marinus Anton Donk (14 August 1908 – 2 September 1972) was a Dutch mycologist. He specialized in the taxonomy and nomenclature of mushrooms. Rolf Singer wrote in his obituary that he was "one of the most outstanding figures of contemporary m ...

limited the Cantharellaceae to ''

Cantharellus ''Cantharellus'' is a genus of popular edible mushrooms, commonly known as chanterelles, a name which can also refer to the type species, '' Cantharellus cibarius''. They are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form symbiotic associations with plant ...

'' and ''

Craterellus ''Craterellus'' is a genus of generally edible fungi similar to the closely related chanterelles, with some new species recently moved from the latter to the former. Both groups lack true gills on the underside of their caps, though they often ...

'' species, together with some close tropical associates, and this disposition was widely accepted.

Current status

Molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bio ...

research, based on

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

analysis of

DNA sequences A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are us ...

, has confirmed Donk's circumscription of the Cantharellaceae, though the smaller genera have not yet been sequenced. According to a standard 2008 reference work, the family contains 5 genera and over 90 species worldwide.

Description

Fruit bodies of most species in the family are mushroom-like or trumpet-like, with spore-bearing surfaces that are smooth, wrinkled, veined, or gill-like and that are typically

decurrent ''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward. In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...

(running down the upper stem). The

consistency In classical deductive logic, a consistent theory is one that does not lead to a logical contradiction. The lack of contradiction can be defined in either semantic or syntactic terms. The semantic definition states that a theory is consistent ...

is fleshy, the hyphal system being monomitic (consisting of generative

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

e only). The

are comparatively large and often have more than the standard 4

sterigmata In biology, a sterigma (pl. sterigmata) is a small supporting structure. It commonly refers to an extension of the basidium (the spore-bearing cells) consisting of a basal filamentous part and a slender projection which carries a spore at the ti ...

Spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

s are smooth and white to yellowish or pinkish in deposit.

Habitat and distribution

All species within the Cantharellaceae are believed to be

, forming a mutually beneficial relationships with the roots of living trees and other plants. Basidiocarps typically occur on the ground or in

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...

in woodland. The family has a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The extr ...

, though the majority of species are tropical. '' Afrocantharellus'', segregated as a genus distinct from ''Cantharellus'' in 2012, has four species found only in Africa.

Economic importance

Many species of ''Cantharellus'', ''Craterellus'', and '' Goossensia'' are edible and several are collected and marketed on a commercial scale. In Europe, the commercial species are ''

'', '' Craterellus cornucopioides'', and '' Craterellus tubaeformis'' which are sold fresh, dried, or canned and are either sourced in Europe or imported, mainly from China. Various African ''Cantharellus'' species (often collected in

miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

woodlands) are also imported into Europe and marketed as "chanterelles". In North America, ''

'' is an additional, widely marketed species. The global trade in species of the Cantharellaceae has been estimated (2005) to be worth over £1bn (US$1.5bn) per year.

References

External links

The Cantharellaceae

{{Authority control Basidiomycota families