Fungalpedia – Note 3122, Helicodendron
Helicodendron Peyronel, Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital. 25: 461 (1918).
Citation when using this data: Jian Ma et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.
Classification: Helotiaceae, Helotiales, Leotiomycetidae, Leotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.
Notes: Helicodendron was initially introduced by Peyronel (1918), with H. paradoxum as the type species. However, H. conglomeratum, H. giganteum, H. paradoxum, H. pinicola, H. tubulosum, H. tubulosum var. phialosporum and H. tubulosum var. tubulosum were transferred to Hymenoscyphus, Lambertella, Mollisia and Tyrannosorus (Index Fungorum 2024). Based on Goos’s suggestion, Helicoon spirale should be placed within Helicodendron (Goos et al. 1986). We accept the author’s recommendation, and it is now identified as an aero-aquatic fungus Helicodendron spirale. Additionally, we re-designate H. fuscum as the type specimen for the genus Helicodendron. Currently, Helicodendron comprises twenty-two species (Morgan 1892; Linder 1929; Beverwijk 1953; Glen-Bott 1955; Abdullah et al. 1979, 2000; Varghese and Rao 1980; Voglmayr 1997b; Voglmayr and Fisher 1997; Abdullah 1983, 1987; Matsushima 1983; Goos et al. 1986; Goos and Uecker 1992). Most Helicodendron species are aero-aquatic helicosporous taxa found in various regions, such as America, Austria, England, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Kerala, Netherlands, Peru, Russia, and Spain (Morgan 1892; Linder 1929; Beverwijk 1953; Glen-Bott 1955; Abdullah et al. 1979, 2000; Abdullah 1983, 1987; Voglmayr 1997b; Voglmayr and Fisher 1997). Helicodendron resembles Helicoon in producing barrel-shaped and coiled conidia (Linder 1929). The conidia of Helicodendron differ from those of Helicoon in producing proliferation as chains or clusters of conidia (Abdullah et al. 2000; Goh and Kuo 2018). Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses revealed that the systematic position of the Helicodendron is in Helotiales, while Helicoon is in Orbiliales (Goh and Kuo 2018).
Type species: Helicodendron fuscum (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Linder, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 16: 332 (1929).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Helicodendron.
Figure 1 – (a) Lambertella tubulosa (redrawn from Abdullah and Webster (1981)), a phialides. b, c Conidia. Scale bars: b = 40 µm, a, c = 20 µm; (b) Helicodendron fuscum (redrawn from Voglmayr and Fisher (1997)), a Conidiophore with attached conidia. b Conidia. Scale bars: a, b = 50 µm; (c) Mollisia gigantea (redrawn from Glen-Bott (1951)). Scale bars: 50 µm; (d) Spirosphaera floriformis (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)).
References
Abdullah SK. 1987 – Two new species of Helicodendron. Nova Hedwigia 44(3-4):339–343.
Beverwijk ALV. 1953 – Helicosporous hyphomycetes. I. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 36(2):111–126.
Goh TK, Kuo CH. 2018 – A new species of Helicoön from Taiwan. Phytotaxa 346(2):141–156.
Goos R. 1986 – A review of the anamorph genus Helicoma. Mycologia 78(5):744–761.
Matsushima T. 1983 – Matsushima Mycological Memoirs 3: 1–90. Matsushima Fungus Collection, Kobe, Japan.
Morgan AP. 1892 – North american helicosporae. Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History 15.
Peyronel B. 1918 – Micromiceti di val Germanasca. Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano 25:405–468.
Varghese K, Rao V. 1980 – Two undescribed species of dematiaceous hyphomycetes. Norwegian journal of botany 27(1):55–57.
Entry by
Jian Ma, School of Food and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Guizhou Institute of Technology, Guiyang 550003, P.R. China, 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 10 September 2026