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2 species
Tulasnella is a cosmopolitan genus of mostly saprotrophic fungi that form thin, smooth, waxy to gelatinous crusts, often lilac to violet-grey, on the underside of fallen branches and logs. Many species also form mycorrhizas with orchids, both terrestrial and epiphytic, and with thalloid liverworts of the family Aneuraceae. In culture they grow as sterile, Rhizoctonia-like mycelium, and isolates such as T. calospora are widely used to germinate orchid seed in symbiotic culture. Species are hard to tell apart by morphology, and many orchid isolates are now identified by DNA.
Basidia: 'tulasnelloid', with grossly swollen sterigmata (epibasidia) that can look like spores; basidiospores form on these. Basidiocarps, when present: effused, smooth, ceraceous (waxy) to subgelatinous, often lilaceous to violet-grey. Hyphae: clampless in the type species, T. violea. Asexual state: sterile mycelium with chains of swollen (monilioid) cells, formerly placed in Rhizoctonia and then Epulorhiza; the shape and branching of these monilioid chains is used to separate species in culture (Fujimori et al. 2019). One atypical species, T. aurantiaca, forms orange to red gelatinous pustules on wood (the former Hormomyces).
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Mycology is an evolving science: names, classifications and safety information change as research advances. Entries are compiled from cited sources and reviewed, but may be incomplete or out of date — check the sources, and never rely on this library alone to identify or eat a mushroom.
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