''Clavulina'' 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 ...
of
fungus
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
in the family
Clavulinaceae
The Clavulinaceae are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order (biology), order Cantharellales. The family is not well defined, but currently comprises species of clavarioid fungi, clavarioid (club and coral) fungi as well as some cortici ...
, in the Cantharelloid
clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
(order
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 ...
). Species are characterized by having extensively branched
fruit bodies
The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...
, white
spore print
300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing warm orange ("tussock") color spore print. ...
s, and bisterigmate
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 ...
(often with secondary
septation). Branches are cylindrical or flattened, blunt, and pointed or crested at the apex, hyphae with or without clamps, basidia cylindrical to narrowly clavate, mostly with two sterigmata which are large and strongly incurved and spores subspherical or broadly ellipsoid, smooth, and thin-walled, each with one large oil drop or guttule.
[ The genus contains approximately forty-five species with a worldwide distribution, primarily in ]tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
regions.[
File:Clavulina cinerea 447865875.jpg , Clavulina spores
File:Clavulina rugosa 463300472.jpg , basidia with two sterigmata
]
Species
*'' C. alutaceosiccescens''
*'' C. amazoensis''
*'' C. amethystina''
*'' C. amethystinoides''
*'' C. arcuatus''
*'' C. brunneocinerea''
*'' C. caespitosa''
*'' C. cartilaginea''
*'' C. cavipes''
*'' C. cerebriformis''
Distribution
''Clavulina'' species are important primary colonizers of forest litter, and occur immediately after the pre-monsoon showers. Two species of ''Clavulina'' – ''C. coralloides'' (known as white or crested coral fungus) and ''C. rugosa'' – have been recorded from the moist-deciduous to evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, Kerala, India.[
]
References