Introduction to Fungi, Third Edition

582 HOMOBASIDIOMYCETES: GASTEROMYCETES
Fig 20.2 Gasteromycetes in the euagarics clade. (a,b) Lycoperdon perlatum.Young gasterocarps (a) are ornamented by warts formed
from the exoperidium. In older gasterocarps (b), the warts have sloughed off and the endoperidium has formed the apical pore.
(c) Calvatia gigantea.Young fruit bodies growing with Urtica dioica.The coin is 2.5 cm in diameter. (d) Cyathus stercoreus.Gasterocarps
(about 5 mm diameter) opening up to reveal the peridioles.
a specimen measuring 40 28 20 cm was
7 10 12 spores (see Table 18.1), and much larger
specimens have been recorded. The spores are
spherical with scattered warts. A more
commonly encountered species is C. excipuliformis,
which fruits on humus (Plate 11a).
When attempts are made to germinate
the spores of this and other puffballs in
the laboratory, the percentage of germination is
extremely low, often less than 0.1%. Germination
takes several weeks and is stimulated by the
growth of yeasts (Bulmer, 1964; Wilson & Beneke,
1966).
20.3.2 Nidulariaceae: bird’s nest fungi
Here the gasterocarps are funnel-shaped, and
the gleba is differentiated into lens-shaped
peridioles (glebal masses) which contain the
basidiospores. Some 50 species in 4 genera are
known, of which the most common examples
are Cyathus and Crucibulum. Detailed and highly
readable accounts of the biology of bird’s nest
fungi have been given by Brodie (1975, 1984).
Members of this family are saprotrophic and
are capable of degrading lignin (Wicklow et al.,
1984).
Cyathus
The fruit bodies of C. olla can be found in autumn
growing amongst cereal stubble. Cyathus striatus,
recognized by the furrowed inner wall of its
cups, grows on old stumps and twigs whilst
C. stercoreus grows on old dung patches. This last
species can be made to fruit readily if mycelium