Fungalpedia – Note 2562, Cyathus
Cyathus. Haller.
Citation when using this data: Boonmee S et al. 2021 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Incertae sedis, Agaricales, Agaricomycetidae, Agaricomycetes, Agaricomycotina, Basidiomycota, Fungi
Notes: Cyathus was established by von Haller (1768) and is typified by Cyathus striatus (Huds.) Willd. The genus is characterized by having deeper or fluted, inverted bell-like fruiting bodies which is covered with shaggy or tomentose hairs on the outside. The inside peridium are filled with a number of small, hard lentil-shaped structures (peridioles) attached with flexible thread-like cords (funiculus). The peridioles bear basidiospores, that are hyaline, smooth or thick-walled and variable in shape and size (Lloyd 1906; Brodie 1975; Miller and Miller 1988).
Type species: Cyathus striatus Willd., Fl. berol. prodr.: 399 (1787).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Cyathus.
Figure 1 – Cyathus uniperidiolus (AMH-10196, holotype, NFCCI- 4697 ex-type culture). a Substrate (stem of Muhlenbergia sp. with attached basidiocarps). b Basidiocarps bearing single globose peridiole. c Globose peridioles with shiny surfaces. d Sections of peridioles showing emptied cavity inside. e Transverse section of basidiocarp showing different layers, innermost region showed emptied. f Transverse section of peridiole showing layer of cortex and sub-cortex (a part view). g Terminal and subterminal thick-walled encrusted loose and interwoven cells of basidiocarp. h Hymenial layer with hyphae and basidiospores. i Enlarged view of basidiospores. j Colony morphology on MEA (front view). k Colony with developing basidiocarps. l Harvested basidiocarps with velvety surfaces from culture. m Hyphae with clamps. Scale bars: f–i, m = 10 μm.
References
Brodie HJ 1975 – The bird’s nest fungi. Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto.
Lloyd CG 1906 – The Nidulariaceae or “bird’s nest fungi”. Cincinnati, pp 1–32.
von Haller A 1768 – Historia stirpium indigenarum. Helvetiae Incho ate 3:1–250.
Entry by
Saranyaphat Boonmee, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand, School of Science, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand
Published online 6 June 2026