INDIANA MUSHROOMS
| Tolypocladium Fungi |
| Formerly placed in the genera Cordyceps and Elaphocordyceps, these fungi have been moved to the genus Tolypocladium (2014). Phylum Ascomycota. The two species presented here are myco-parasites of underground false truffles in the genus Elaphomyces. The club-like head of these mushrooms, called the stroma, is where spores are produced. Tiny pimples on the stroma represent little spore-producing factories called perithecia, immersed within the stroma. Known as sac fungi, spores (technically called ascospores) are made within microscopic sacs called asci. Ascospores are ejected from the perithecia into the atmosphere through small pores (ostioles). |
| Note: These mushrooms are now in the same genus as the medically renowned fungus Tolypocladium inflatum, from which Cyclosporine, the anti-rejection drug that made organ transplants possible, was derived. Separate names for the sexual and asexual forms of Tolypocladium inflatum are no longer used. Cordyceps subsessilis is now a synonym. |
| See IMA FUNGUS for details on name change. |
Cross section. Magnafication 600X.
| VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV |
| George Barron calls the stroma "a massive fungus matrix". |
