Caloscypha
Encyclopedia
Caloscypha is a fungal genus
in the Caloscyphaceae
family (Pezizales
order). A monotypic
genus, it contains the single species Caloscypha fulgens, commonly known as the spring orange peel fungus, the golden cup, or the dazzling cup. It is a cup fungus
, typically up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in diameter, with a bright to pale orange interior and orange; specimens that are old or bruised often have an olive-green discoloration, especially around the edges. In North America, it is usually found on the ground in forest litter near conifers. Fruiting occurs in early spring following snow melt. The asexual (imperfect), or conidial
stage of C. fulgens is the plant pathogenic species Geniculodendron pyrofirme, known to infect dormant seed
s of the Sitka spruce
.
by Christian Hendrik Persoon
in 1822 as Peziza fulgens, and has been grouped in several different genera
since its original description. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence
data shows that within the Pezizales
order
, Caloscypha fulgens belongs in an evolutionary lineage with the families Helvellaceae
, Morchellaceae
, and Tuberaceae
. Since 1968, Caloscypha had been placed in the Pyronemataceae
family, a small grouping of fungi distinguished from other Pezizales by their relatively undeveloped peridium
. In 2002, the new family Caloscyphaceae
was described to contain the monotypic
genus Caloscypha.
The distinctive orange-yellow color of the fungus has earned it the common name
s "spring orange peel fungus", the "golden cup", and the "dazzling cup". The specific epithet means "bright colored", while the genus name Caloscypha means "beautiful cup".
order. The stem
, if present, is rather short. The spore deposit
is white.
A single specimen of an albino form, 2 centimetre (0.78740157480315 in) in diameter, was discovered in Northern Idaho
; it was found to be lacking the pigment
responsible for staining the outer surface olive-green.
The spores are translucent (hyaline
), roughly spherical, thin-walled and smooth, with dimensions of 6–8 µm
in diameter. The asci
, the spore-bearing cells, are cylindrical and 80–100 by 7–8 µm; the paraphyses
are thin and filamentous and contain orange granules. Edibility
has not been recorded for this fungus.
under conifers shortly after the snow melts. In North America, where it has been noted to occur only between March and July, it is widespread in the Rocky Mountains
and the Pacific Northwest
. C. fulgens has been collected in Britain, and possibly arrived there from imported infected seeds. It has also been collected from Japan, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Turkey
. It is listed on the Red List of protected species in Slovakia
.
of this fungus allows for both an imperfect (making asexual spores, or conidia ) or perfect (making sexual spores) form; as has often happened in fungal taxonomy
, the imperfect form was given a different name, because the relationship between the perfect and imperfect forms of the same species was not then known. The imperfect, or conidial stage of this fungus is the plant pathogen Geniculodendron pyrofirme, first reported in 1964, and known to infect dormant seeds of the Sitka spruce
, Picea sitchensis. A 1978 study showed that about a third of Sitka spruce seed lots stored by the British Columbia
Forest Service (Canada
) contained diseased seeds, and these diseased seeds failed to germinate when sown in local nurseries. The fungus can grow at low temperatures, contributing to its ability to kill seeds before they have a chance to germinate. Infected seeds tend to shrivel and dry up rather than rot. It was also demonstrated that seed lots from squirrel seed caches have increased incidence of C. fulgens infection. Squirrels tend to cache pinecones repeatedly in the same location, and in cool, moist conditions favorable for fungus growth. In 2002, G. pyriforme was found on imported conifer seeds in Germany
, the first such report in continental Europe
.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
in the Caloscyphaceae
Caloscyphaceae
The Caloscyphaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales.-References:...
family (Pezizales
Pezizales
The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white truffles, and the desert truffles. The Pezizales are...
order). A monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus, it contains the single species Caloscypha fulgens, commonly known as the spring orange peel fungus, the golden cup, or the dazzling cup. It is a cup fungus
Cup fungus
The Pezizaceae are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tends to grow in the shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surface of the fruit body . The cup shape typically serves to focus raindrops into splashing spores out of the cup...
, typically up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in diameter, with a bright to pale orange interior and orange; specimens that are old or bruised often have an olive-green discoloration, especially around the edges. In North America, it is usually found on the ground in forest litter near conifers. Fruiting occurs in early spring following snow melt. The asexual (imperfect), or conidial
Conidium
Conidia, sometimes termed conidiospores, are asexual, non-motile spores of a fungus and are named after the greek word for dust, konia. They are also called mitospores due to the way they are generated through the cellular process of mitosis...
stage of C. fulgens is the plant pathogenic species Geniculodendron pyrofirme, known to infect dormant seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s of the Sitka spruce
Sitka Spruce
Picea sitchensis, the Sitka Spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50–70 m tall, exceptionally to 95 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter...
.
Taxonomy
This species was first describedSpecies description
A species description or type description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species which have been described previously, or are...
by Christian Hendrik Persoon
Christian Hendrik Persoon
Christiaan Hendrik Persoon was a mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy.-Early life:...
in 1822 as Peziza fulgens, and has been grouped in several different genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
since its original description. Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data shows that within the Pezizales
Pezizales
The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white truffles, and the desert truffles. The Pezizales are...
order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
, Caloscypha fulgens belongs in an evolutionary lineage with the families Helvellaceae
Helvellaceae
The Helvellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi, the best known members of which are the elfin saddles of the genus Helvella. Originally erected by Elias Magnus Fries in 1823 as Elvellacei, it contained many genera...
, Morchellaceae
Morchellaceae
The Morchellaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi. According to a standard reference work, the family contains 49 species distributed among 4 genera...
, and Tuberaceae
Tuberaceae
The Tuberaceae are a family of mycorrhizal fungi. It includes the genus Tuber, which includes the so-called "true" truffles. It was characterized by the Belgian botanist Barthélemy Charles Joseph du Mortier in 1822. A molecular study of ribosomal DNA by mycologist Kerry O'Donnell in 1997 found that...
. Since 1968, Caloscypha had been placed in the Pyronemataceae
Pyronemataceae
The Pyronemataceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales. It is the largest family of the Pezizales, encompassing 75 genera and approximately 500 species...
family, a small grouping of fungi distinguished from other Pezizales by their relatively undeveloped peridium
Peridium
The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of the Gasteromycetes.-Description:...
. In 2002, the new family Caloscyphaceae
Caloscyphaceae
The Caloscyphaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pezizales.-References:...
was described to contain the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus Caloscypha.
The distinctive orange-yellow color of the fungus has earned it the common name
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
s "spring orange peel fungus", the "golden cup", and the "dazzling cup". The specific epithet means "bright colored", while the genus name Caloscypha means "beautiful cup".
Description
The fruiting body of C. fulgens is roughly cup-shaped, although the cup may be somewhat flattened, lopsided or split; the size is up to 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in diameter. The inner surface of the cup is orange-yellow, while the external surface is pale yellow. Either the margin around the rim or the entire outer surface may be stained olive-green. The green or bluish staining that occurs upon injury or with age is unique within the PezizalesPezizales
The Pezizales are an order of the subphylum Pezizomycotina within the phylum Ascomycota. The order contains 16 families, 199 genera, and 1683 species. It contains a number of species of economic importance, such as morels, the black and white truffles, and the desert truffles. The Pezizales are...
order. The stem
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
, if present, is rather short. The spore deposit
Spore print
thumb|300px|right|Making a spore print of the mushroom Volvariella volvacea shown in composite: mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print...
is white.
A single specimen of an albino form, 2 centimetre (0.78740157480315 in) in diameter, was discovered in Northern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
; it was found to be lacking the pigment
Pigment
A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...
responsible for staining the outer surface olive-green.
The spores are translucent (hyaline
Hyaline
The term hyaline denotes a substance with a glass-like appearance.-Histopathology:In histopathological medical usage, a hyaline substance appears glassy and pink after being stained with haematoxylin and eosin — usually it is an acellular, proteinaceous material...
), roughly spherical, thin-walled and smooth, with dimensions of 6–8 µm
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
in diameter. The asci
Ascus
An ascus is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. On average, asci normally contain eight ascospores, produced by a meiotic cell division followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or species can number one , two, four, or multiples...
, the spore-bearing cells, are cylindrical and 80–100 by 7–8 µm; the paraphyses
Paraphyses
Paraphyses are part of the fertile spore-bearing layer in certain fungi. More specifically, paraphyses are sterile filamentous hyphal end cells composing part of the hymenium of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota interspersed among either the asci or basidia respectively, and not sufficiently...
are thin and filamentous and contain orange granules. Edibility
Edible mushroom
Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruiting bodies of several species of fungi. Mushrooms belong to the macrofungi, because their fruiting structures are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. They can appear either below ground or above ground where they may be picked by hand...
has not been recorded for this fungus.
Habitat and distribution
This species is usually found in the spring, often on duffForest floor
The forest floor, also called detritus, duff and the O horizon, is one of the most distinctive features of a forest ecosystem. It mainly consists of shed vegetative parts, such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems, existing in various stages of decomposition above the soil surface...
under conifers shortly after the snow melts. In North America, where it has been noted to occur only between March and July, it is widespread in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
and the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
. C. fulgens has been collected in Britain, and possibly arrived there from imported infected seeds. It has also been collected from Japan, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. It is listed on the Red List of protected species in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
.
Imperfect state
The life cycleBiological life cycle
A life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction...
of this fungus allows for both an imperfect (making asexual spores, or conidia ) or perfect (making sexual spores) form; as has often happened in fungal taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, the imperfect form was given a different name, because the relationship between the perfect and imperfect forms of the same species was not then known. The imperfect, or conidial stage of this fungus is the plant pathogen Geniculodendron pyrofirme, first reported in 1964, and known to infect dormant seeds of the Sitka spruce
Sitka Spruce
Picea sitchensis, the Sitka Spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50–70 m tall, exceptionally to 95 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter...
, Picea sitchensis. A 1978 study showed that about a third of Sitka spruce seed lots stored by the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Forest Service (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) contained diseased seeds, and these diseased seeds failed to germinate when sown in local nurseries. The fungus can grow at low temperatures, contributing to its ability to kill seeds before they have a chance to germinate. Infected seeds tend to shrivel and dry up rather than rot. It was also demonstrated that seed lots from squirrel seed caches have increased incidence of C. fulgens infection. Squirrels tend to cache pinecones repeatedly in the same location, and in cool, moist conditions favorable for fungus growth. In 2002, G. pyriforme was found on imported conifer seeds in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the first such report in continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
.