Fungalpedia – Note 3120, Hymenoscyphus

 

Hymenoscyphus Gray, A natural arrangement of British plants 1: 673 (1821).

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: Hymenoscyphus was introduced by Gray (1821), with H. fructigenus as the type species. Hymenoscyphus paradoxus and Helicodendron paradoxum have been identified as the same species based on their anamorph and teleomorph morphological link (Linder 1929; Fisher and Webster 1983). Currently, Hymenoscyphus comprises a helicosporous species, H. paradoxus, which was found on a decorticated trunk of Alnus viridis and submerged twigs of Salix in Italy and Switzerland (Fisher and Webster 1983; Tsui and Berbee 2006). Hymenoscyphus paradoxus and Helicodendron species share similar features in having chains of coiled conidia, but molecular phylogeny separates them in different families within Helotiales (Leotiomycetes) (Linder 1929; Tsui and Berbee 2006). The three species, Helicodendron giganteum, H. paradoxum, and H. tubulosum, have been transferred to other helicosporous genera based on the morphological comparisons of their asexual morph (Linder 1929; Glen-Bott 1951). Additionally, three distinct asexual morphs of Hymenoscyphus paradoxus, Mollisia gigantea, and Lambertella tubulosa were obtained from cultures derived from the sexual morphs of single ascospores (Abdullah and Webster 1981; Fisher and Webster 1983).

Type species: Hymenoscyphus fructigenus (Bull.) Gray, A natural arrangement of British plants 1: 673 (1821).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Hymenoscyphus.

Figure 1 – (a) Magnohelicospora iberica (redrawn from Hernandez-Restrepo et al. (2017)), a Conidiophore and conidia. b Conidia. Scale bars: a, b = 10 µm; (b) Tyrannosorus pinicola (redrawn from Voglmayr and Fisher (1997)), a Coiled conidia and straight hyphae forming arthrospores (arrowheads). b Straight and curved, mostly one-celled propagules after disarticulation of coiled conidia and straight hyphae. a, b = 10 µm; (c) Hiospira hendrickxii (redrawn from Seifert et al. (2011)); (d) Hymenoscyphus paradoxus (redrawn from Linder (1929)).

 

References

Abdullah SK, Webster J. 1981 – Lambertella tubulosa sp. nov., teleomorph of Helicodendron tubulosum. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 76(2):261–263.

Fisher P, Webster J. 1983 – The teleomorphs of Helicodendron giganteum and H. paradoxum. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 81(3):656–659.

Glen-Bott JI. 1951 – Helicodendron giganteum n. sp. and other aerial-sporing Hyphomycetes of submerged dead leaves. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 34(3):275–279.

Gray S-F. 1821 – A natural arrangement of british plants (etc.).

Linder DH. 1929 – A monograph of the helicosporous fungi imperfecti. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 16(3):227–388.

Tsui CKM, Berbee ML. 2006 – Phylogenetic relationships and convergence of helicosporous fungi inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(3):587–597.

 

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

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