''Peniophora'' 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 ...

fungi 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 ...

which are plant

pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...

s. Members of the genus belong to the class

Agaricomycetes The Agaricomycetes are a class of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The taxon is roughly identical to that defined for the Homobasidiomycetes (alternatively called holobasidiomycetes) by Hibbett & Thorn, with the inclusion of Auriculariales ...

, order

Russulales The Russulales are an order of the Agaricomycetes, (which include the agaric genera '' Russula'' and ''Lactarius'' and their polyporoid and corticioid relatives). According to the ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (10th edition, 2008), the order con ...

, and family

Peniophoraceae The Peniophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Russulales. Species of this family have a cosmopolitan distribution and are mostly saprobic, causing rots of standing and fallen wood. According to a 2008 estimate, the family contains 7 gener ...

. The genus is widespread, and contains 62 species. The species of ''Peniophora'' are resupinate, or crust-like, and are described as

corticioid 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 ...

. A number of its members are parasitised by other

. For example, ''

Tremella mesenterica ''Tremella mesenterica'' (common names include yellow brain, golden jelly fungus, yellow trembler, and witches' butter) is a common jelly fungus in the family Tremellaceae of the Agaricomycotina. The gelatinous, orange-yellow fruit body of th ...

'' is a parasite to several species of ''Peniophora''.

Taxonomy and classification

The genus was first described by

Mordecai Cubitt Cooke Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (12 July 1825, in Horning, Norfolk – 12 November 1914, in Southsea, Hampshire) was an English botanist and mycologist who was, at various points, a London schoolteacher, a Kew mycologist, curator at the India Museum, jour ...

in 1879. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Peniophora quercina'', initially named ''Thelephora quercina'' by

Christian Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycology, mycological Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in Cape Colony at ...

in 1801 before being transferred to ''Peniophora'' by Cooke in 1879. However, this species was also chosen as the type species for the genus '' Corticium'' as defined by Persoon in 1794. Until 1981 the starting point for the

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

of the corticioid fungi was the publication of Fries' first volume of the ''Systema mycologicum'', which was set at January 1, 1821. ''Corticium'' Persoon (1794) was therefore a devalidated name because it was published before the starting point. Mycologists of the later 19th and 20th centuries, including Patouillard (1900), Burt (1914–26), and Bourdot and Galzin (1928) distinguished species of ''Peniophora'' Cooke by their hymenial

cystidia A cystidium (: cystidia) is a relatively large cell found on the sporocarp of a basidiomycete (for example, on the surface of a mushroom gill), often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are o ...

from species of ''Corticium'' Persoon, which lacked them. Despite being synonyms under the

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature 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 ...

(ICBN), ''Corticium'' and ''Peniophore'' were used in this encompassing sense well into the 20th century. Changes made to the ICBN in 1981 included moving the starting point date for fungi back to May 1, 1753, the publication date of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

' ''

Species plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

''. Names published between 1753 and 1821 (including ''Corticium'') are now considered valid. When Cooke described ''Peniophora'', he incorporated many crustlike species whose fruit bodies possess in the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

sterile, hair-like structures termed cystidia. Subsequent investigators, such as Bresadola and Burt accepted and expanded upon Cooke's concept of the genus, placing in it nearly all corticiaceous species that produced cystidia. Often, other

taxonomically In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are given ...

significant characters were not fully considered, and as a result, ''Peniophora'' soon became a heterogeneous assemblage of species. A number of morphological studies were carried out in the 20th century to better characterize the genus. Bourdot and Galzin (1912, 1928) were among the first investigators to recognize that certain species within the genus had more distinct affinities with each other than with other members of the genus. This prompted them to divide the genus into

sections Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

and groups of seemingly morphologically related species, such as the sections ''Coloratae'' and ''Membranaceae''. Later, several species of the section ''Membranaceae'' would be transferred into the genus '' Phanerochaete''. Later attempts to refine the infrageneric classification of ''Peniophora'' included morphology, physiology, development,

cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

and

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

Partial list of species

Selected species, for a complete list see List of Peniophora species: *'' Peniophora albobadia'' *'' Peniophora cinerea'' *'' Peniophora incarnata'' *'' Peniophora quercina'' *'' Peniophora sacrata''

References

{{Authority control Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Russulales Russulales genera Taxa named by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke