Typhula
Typhula is a genus of clavarioid fungi in the order Agaricales. Species of Typhula are saprotrophic, mostly decomposing leaves, twigs, and herbaceous material. Basidiocarps are club-shaped or narrowly cylindrical and are simple, often arising from sclerotia. A few species are facultative plant pathogens, causing a number of commercially important crop and turfgrass diseases.
Taxonomy
The genus was first introduced as a section of Clavaria by South African-born mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1801. He differentiated Typhula from Clavaria on the basis of fruitbody shape. The name was taken up at generic level by Elias Magnus Fries in 1818. Fries described four species in the genus. Subsequent authors described another 150 or so species in Typhula.The genus was revised in 1950 by E. J. H. Corner, who characterized Typhula species as having fruit bodies arising from sclerotia, the genera Pistillaria and Pistillina accommodating similar species lacking sclerotia. A later and more specialist revision by Jacques Berthier placed both these latter genera in synonymy.
Molecular research, based on cladistic analysis of DNA sequences, indicates that the genus is monophyletic and forms a natural group. The type species, T. phacorrhiza, is not, however, closely related to other species in the genus and belongs in Macrotyphula. Rather than rename all other species currently referred to Typhula or Macrotyphula, a proposal is being made to change the type species of Typhula to T. incarnata.
Description
Basidiocarps arise singly or severally from a sclerotium or directly from the substrate. Fruit bodies are filiform to club-shaped, typically with a distinct sterile stalk and fertile head, normally white, in some species buff to pink, or with a dark reddish stem. The sclerotia are spherical to lentil-shaped, hard and horny, yellow-brown to blackish brown. Microscopically, the hyphal system is monomitic, the hyphae with or without clamp connections. The basidia produce 2 to 4 basidiospores that are smooth, colourless, and amyloid or inamyloid.Habitat and distribution
Typhula species mostly occur as saprotrophs on dead herbaceous stems, fern stems, grass stems, fallen leaves, and woody detritus. Some species occur on a wide range of host plants, others—such as Typhula quisquiliaris on bracken—appear to be host-specific. A few species are or can become facultative (opportunistic) parasites of crops and turfgrass.Most species have been described from the north temperate zone, but little research has been undertaken in the tropics or southern hemisphere, where they are either less common or overlooked.