Cyttaria

Cyttaria darwinii

Cyttaria is a genus of parasitic ascomycetes ( Ascomycota ), which form a separate family Cyttariaceae and order Cyttariales.

The genus contains about a dozen species, all of which are parasitic on Nothofagus, are therefore restricted to the southern hemisphere.

The fruiting bodies are large, fleshy round to pear- shaped structures that grow from galls on living branches of the host tree. In some species, the fruit body formed in an early stage of pycnidia, and then a plurality of separate, cup -shaped chambers with asci. The asci have a thin cell wall and an apical amyloid ring.

System

Cyttaria was previously conducted in various groups, such as the cup -like compact or Helotiales. Phylogenetic studies have, however, made ​​clear in the class Leotiomycetes, but where they are within the Helotiales. However, the latter are not monophyletic, why Cyttaria will continue to operate as a separate order. Your next of kin is likely the genus Chlorociboria be an Australasian, dead wood inhabiting species.