Aleuria aurantia, commonly known as the Orange Peel Fungus, is a striking ascomycete belonging to the order Pezizales. It is characterized by its sessile, cup-shaped fruiting bodies (apothecia) that are brilliantly orange on the inner fertile surface (hymenium) and paler, whitish, and downy on the sterile outer surface. The cups typically range from 2 to 10 cm in diameter and often grow in clusters, becoming irregular, flattened, or contorted as they mature, closely resembling discarded orange peels. Unlike gilled mushrooms, this species releases spores from asci located on the upper surface of the cup. Ecologically, A. aurantia is primarily a saprobe, thriving on dead organic matter in the soil, though recent studies suggest it may function as a tertiary decomposer or have complex facultative relationships with plant roots. It is a 'ruderal' species, favoring disturbed ground where it rapidly colonizes bare soil. The species is scientifically significant for the production of Aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL), a protein with high specificity for fucose residues, widely used in biochemical research and cancer diagnostics.
Native: North America, Europe, Asia, South America (Patagonia). Cosmopolitan and widespread in the Northern Hemisphere; also present in temperate zones of the Southern Hemisphere.
No strains cataloged yet for this species.
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