''Botryobasidium'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

corticioid fungi The corticioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having effused, smooth basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the undersides of dead tree trunks or branches. They are sometimes colloquially called crust fungi or pa ...

belonging to the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Cantharellales The Cantharellales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the class (biology), class Agaricomycetes. The order includes not only the chanterelles (Cantharellaceae), but also some of the tooth fungi (Hydnaceae), clavarioid fungi (Aphelariaceae ...

Basidiocarps In fungi, a basidiocarp, basidiome, or basidioma () is the sporocarp of a basidiomycete, the multicellular structure on which the spore-producing hymenium is borne. Basidiocarps are characteristic of the hymenomycetes; rusts and smuts do no ...

(fruit bodies) are ephemeral and typically form thin, web-like, white to cream, effused patches on the underside of fallen branches, logs, and leaf litter. Several species form

anamorph In mycology, the terms teleomorph, anamorph, and holomorph apply to portions of the life cycles of fungi in the phyla Ascomycota and Basidiomycota: *Teleomorph: the sexual reproductive stage (morph), typically a fruiting body. *Anamorph: an ase ...

s producing chlamydospores. All species are wood- or litter-rotting saprotrophs and the genus has a worldwide distribution.

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by Dutch

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

M.A. Donk in 1931. Species had previously been referred to the genus '' Corticium'', formerly used for most

with effused fruit bodies. Donk recognized a group of species within ''Corticium'' that (microscopically) produced

basidia A basidium (: basidia) is a microscopic spore-producing structure found on the hymenophore of reproductive bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the group. These bodies are also ...

in " botryose" clusters (hence ''Botryobasidium''), had wide, often right-angled

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 o ...

e, large two- to eight-spored basidia, and smooth

basidiospore A basidiospore is a reproductive spore produced by basidiomycete fungi, a grouping that includes mushrooms, shelf fungi, rusts, and smuts. Basidiospores typically each contain one haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromos ...

s. He described a second genus, ''Botryohypochnus'', for species with ornamented basidiospores. The genus was later monographed by Langer (1994) who included ''Botryohypochnus'' within the generic concept of ''Botryobasidium''. Asexual

ic forms, producing

chlamydospore A chlamydospore is the thick-walled large resting spore of several kinds of fungi, including Ascomycota such as '' Candida'', Basidiomycota such as '' Panus'', and various Mortierellales species. It is the life-stage which survives in unfavourab ...

s but not basidia and basidiospores, had been treated separately and given a variety of generic names. These were reviewed by Holubová-Jechková (1980) who considered most of these genera synonymous with ''Haplotrichum'', the anamorphic state of ''Botryobasidium''.

Current status

Following changes to the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

, the practice of giving different names to teleomorph and anamorph forms of the same fungus has been discontinued, meaning that ''Haplotrichum'' and other anamorph genera have become synonyms of ''Botryobasidium''.

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

research, based on

cladistic Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') 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 ...

analysis of

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

, indicates that the genus (including ''Botryohypochnus'') is

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

and forms a natural group within the Cantharellales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10433748 Cantharellales Taxa described in 1931 Taxa named by Marinus Anton Donk Agaricomycetes genera