Photo by F. Ankie Camacho

Pezizales in relation to other fungi: Features of the Pezizales

In order to be considered a member of the Pezizales a fungus must meet certain criteria. The most important criterion is also one that can only be determined by examining parts of the fruiting bodies with a compound microscope. However, many associated features, observable with a hand lens or magnifying glass, can be useful when trying to decide if a specimen is or is not a member of the Pezizales.

Field (Macroscopic) clues to membership in the Pezizales:

Fruiting body form (choose one, and consult section on Look- Alikes):

• a cup, bowl, saucer, disk, or spatula (occasionally cushion- shaped or split on one side) with the concave to (relatively) flat or undulating surface oriented toward the sky (or light source); if cushion-like, stalk, absent; stalk absent or present in other cases: (Cup-fungi, fruiting body an Apothecium)

• stalked with a bell-shaped to wrinkled or pitted "head" that, if set up for a spore print, releases spores from the exposed (not the protected) surface of the head (most true and false morels): (True and false morels, fruiting body an Apothecium)

• a ball varying from solid to hollow or with interior folds or channels, varies to lobed or convoluted: (True truffels, fruiting body an Exothecium, ptychothecium or stereothecium)

Fruiting body texture: fragile to friable (crumbly) or fleshy, never fibrous, if small not drying down and reviving when moistened to release additional spores, a few with a gelatinous interior

Fruiting body life span: typically rather short-lived, a few days or weeks, in a few <taxa> to 2-3 months

 

Laboratory (Microscopic) clues to membership in the Pezizales:

Asci present

Ascus dehiscence:

• If fruiting body a morel or cup-fungus, asci open by a lid (operculum) rather than a pore or slit and forcibly eject ripe ascospores; mass spore discharge sometimes produces visible puff of spores from larger fruiting bodies or a powdery splatter on a microscope slide or cover slip held above the fruiting body

• If fruiting body a truffle, asci open by lid in one species (Geopora cooperi); otherwise they do not open in a regular manner to release mature spores. Asci vary in shape from long and narrow to globose

 

Some look-alikes:

Other Ascomycetes:

Leotiales: Many members of the order Leotiales (another group of ascomycetes), have cup-shaped fruiting bodies and are best separated from members of the Pezizales by studying the asci. In the Leotiales, the asci open by a pore rather than a lid. Many of the Leotiales that form cup-shaped apothecia tend to be small and tough and relatively more persistent; many more Leotiales than Pezizales fruit on grass culms, berry canes, twigs, woody catkins, dead leaves, and similar materials; relatively fewer fruit on soil. Relatively few members of the Leotiales form cups more than 1 cm in diam as compared to the Pezizales. The "earth tongues" and similar kinds that resemble fleshy small clubs or pancake turners are likely to be members of the Leotiales or the basidiomycetes if fleshy; some members of the Leotiales have a cap-like "head" and resemble strange mushrooms with no gills, asci on the upper surface, and (sometimes) a rather fibrous stalk.

Basidiomycetes:

Basidiomycete mushrooms vs. true and false morels: In the fruiting bodies most people think of as mushrooms, the hymenium (spore-producing layer) typically is on the underside of the expanded portion of the fruiting body (the cap or pileus). The underside of the cap may be smooth, or bear gills, spines, tubes, or pores. If one puts a mature cap down on a piece of paper, places a glass over it or wraps it in waxed paper and lets it sit for a few hours to over night, the spores will be deposited on the paper making a spore print. If one tries to make such a spore print with a true or false morel, no deposit will form below the "head" (except perhaps for tiny insects), but, if the set up had been covered with a glass or wrapped in waxed paper, the inside of the covering will be dusted with spores--the hymenium in the true and false morels is on the most exposed surface of the fruiting body.

False truffles: True and false truffles can be separated based on macroscopic characters relatively reliably with practice. If the interior of the truffle releases copious juice when cut open, or has numerous small regular chambers (resembling a fine-textured sponge, not folded dough), or is firm to solid and resembles glistening rubber the fungus is likely to be a false truffle. While many truffles will develop distinctive odors as they mature, those produced by some Basidiomycete truffles are especially pungent and disagreeable as compared to most true (Ascomycete) truffles.

Basidiomycete cups: A few basidium-bearing fungi have cup-shaped fruiting bodies. Three major groups (the Cyphelloid fungi, the bird's nest fungi, and the jelly fungi) are likely to be responsible for most of the confusion; all occur on woody substrates or, in some bird's nest fungi, herbivore dung. If the cups are thin and oriented with the mouth of the cup directed toward the ground they are likely to be basidiomycetes. Bird's nest fungi form structures that look like covered cups at first, open to reveal one ore more tiny pea-like structures which are splashed away at maturity, leaving the empty "nest" behind; the "nests" persist and are vase- to cup-shaped but relatively tough. In the Pacific Northwest bird's nest fungi are most abundant on woody substrates and cones; they are tough, fibrous, and persistent. Some jelly fungi resemble small brightly colored very gelatinous tops dotted along rotting branches; however, this combination of features is unknown in the Pezizales of western North America.