Podaxis

{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Podaxis_Baja_California.jpg | image_caption= ''Podaxis pistillaris'' | taxon = Podaxis | authority = Desv. (1809) | type_species = ''Podaxis senegalensis'' | type_species_authority = Desv. (1809) }}

'''''Podaxis''''' is a genus of secotioid fungi in the family Agaricaceae. Species, which have the appearance of a "stalked-puffball", have a worldwide distribution, and tend to be found growing solitary or scattered on sandy soils, especially in arid regions. Although close to 50 species have been described, it has been argued that many of them may represent extremes in the natural range of variations found in ''Podaxis pistillaris''.<ref name="Morse 1933"/>

==Description== Fruiting bodies have the appearance of an unopened ''Coprinus comatus'', with a stipe and a loose, brown to blackish powdery gleba at maturity. Basidiospores are obovate, thick-walled with a large apical pore, and typically 10-17 x 9-12 μm in size.<ref name="Miller 1988"/> Clamp connections are present.<ref name="Johnson 1999"/>

''Podaxis'' is a common inhabitant of soil and termite mounds throughout the drier regions of the tropics and subtropics of the world.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cms.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/fungi/JCUDEV_017269 |title=Podaxis beringamensis (Termite powderpuff) - JCU |access-date=25 November 2008 |archive-date=27 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080727063345/http://cms.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/fungi/JCUDEV_017269 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''P. pistillaris'' is a ground-inhabiting species, but most ''Podaxis'' species in the rest of the world are associated with termite mounds. This includes the Australian species ''P. beringamensis''.<ref name="Priest 1999"/>

==Taxonomy== The genus was originally named ''Podaxis'' and circumscribed by Nicaise Auguste Desvaux in 1809,<ref name="Desvaux 1809"/> while Elias Magnus Fries later (1829) called the taxon ''Podaxon''.<ref name="Fries 1829"/> Although a number of articles have used the latter name, ''Podaxis'' is the preferred name as it has nomenclatorial priority due to its earlier publication.<ref name="Morse 1933"/>

Early suggestions<ref name="Morse 1933"/><ref name="Miller 1988"/><ref name="Watling 1978"/> that ''Podaxis'' was related to the genus ''Coprinus'' were later confirmed using phylogenetic analysis based on sequence data of rDNA genes.<ref name="Hopple 1994"/><ref name="Hopple 1999"/> This research showed that ''Podaxis'' is in a clade with the species ''Montagnea arenaria'' and ''Agaricus pocillator'', and the genus ''Leucocoprinus''. For this reason, ''Podaxis'' was transferred to the family Agaricaceae (order Agaricales) from the now obsolete family name ''Podaxaceae'' (order Podaxales).

A section of ''Podaxis'', named ''Parvispora'', was circumscribed to accommodate three species (''P. argentinus'', ''P. longii'' and ''P. microsporus'') with small spores.<ref name="McKnight 1985"/>

==Species== {{As of|2016|January}}, Index Fungorum accepts 28 species in ''Podaxis'':<ref name="Kirk 2016"/> *''Podaxis africana'' De Villiers, Eicker & Van der Westh. 1989 – Africa<ref name="De Villiers 1989"/> *''Podaxis algericus'' Pat. 1904 *''Podaxis anomalus'' Lloyd 1920 *''Podaxis argentinus'' Speg. 1898 *''Podaxis axatus'' (Bosc) Massee 1890 *''Podaxis beringamensis'' Priest & M.Lenz 1999 – Australia<ref name="Priest 1999"/> *''Podaxis carcinomalis'' (L.f.) Fr. 1829 – Ghana *''Podaxis chevalieri'' Pat. & Har. 1900<ref name="Patouillard 1900"/> *''Podaxis deciduus'' Bat. 1951 *''Podaxis dilabentis'' Bat. 1951 *''Podaxis emerici'' (Berk.) Massee 1890 *''Podaxis farlowii'' Massee 1890 *''Podaxis fastigatus'' Bat. 1951 *''Podaxis ferrandi'' Mattir. 1913 *''Podaxis ghattasensis'' Henn. 1898 *''Podaxis glaziovii'' Henn. 1897 *''Podaxis gollanii'' Henn. 1901 *''Podaxis longii'' McKnight 1985<ref name="McKnight 1985"/> *''Podaxis macrosporus'' Speg. 1906 *''Podaxis microporus'' McKnight 1985<ref name="McKnight 1985"/> *''Podaxis muelleri'' Henn. 1904 *''Podaxis patagonicus'' Speg. 1898 *''Podaxis pistillaris'' (L.) Fr. 1829 *''Podaxis rugospora'' De Villiers, Eicker & Van der Westh. 1989<ref name="De Villiers 1989"/> *''Podaxis saharianus'' G.Moreno & Mornand 1997<ref name="Moreno 1997"/> *''Podaxis senegalensis'' Desv. 1809 *''Podaxis strobilaceus'' Copel. 1904 *''Podaxis subterraneus'' S.Ahmad 1941

==Uses== The dark purple spores of ''Podaxis'' species are used by Australian aborigines as a face paint.<ref name="Cleland 1933"/> ''Podaxis aegyptiacus'' is used as a common traditional medicine in the Bamako region of Mali for wound-healing, and water extracts from the mushroom have been shown to have carbohydrates with beneficial effects on the immune system in vitro.<ref name="Diallo 2002"/>

==References== {{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Cleland 1933">{{cite journal |vauthors=Cleland JB, Johnston TH |year=1933 |title=The ecology of the aborigines of Central Australia; botanical notes |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia |volume=57 |pages=113–124 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41569921}}</ref>

<ref name="Desvaux 1809">{{cite journal |author=Desvaux NA. |year=1809 |title=Observations sur quelques genres a etablir dans la famille des champignons. ''Podaxis senegalensis'' |journal=Journal de Botanique |volume=2 |pages=95–97 |language=fr |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8071464}}</ref>

<ref name="De Villiers 1989">{{cite journal |vauthors=De Villiers JJ, Eicker A, Van der Westhuizen GC |title=A new section and two new species of ''Podaxis'' (Gasteromycetes) from South Africa |journal=South African Journal of Botany |year=1989 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=159–164 |doi=10.1016/s0254-6299(16)31201-7|doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="Diallo 2002">{{cite journal |vauthors=Diallo D, Sogn C, Samake FB, Paulsen BS, Michaelsen TE, Keita A |year=2002 |title=Wound healing plants in Mali, the Bamako region. An ethnobotanical survey and complement fixation of water extracts from selected plants |journal=Pharmaceutical Biology |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=117–128 |doi=10.1076/phbi.40.2.117.5846|doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="Fries 1829">{{cite book |author=Fries EM. |title=Systema Mycologicum |year=1829 |volume=3 |location=Lund, Sweden |publisher=Ex Officina Berlingiana |page=62 |language=la |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4280110}}</ref>

<ref name="Hopple 1994">{{cite journal |author1=Hopple JS Jr |author2=Vilgalys R. |year=1994 |title=Phylogenetic relationships among coprinoid taxa and allies based on data from restriction site mapping of nuclear rDNA. |journal=Mycologia |volume=86 |issue=1 |pages=96–107 |doi=10.2307/3760723|jstor=3760723 }}</ref>

<ref name="Hopple 1999">{{cite journal |vauthors=Hopple JS, Vilgalys R |title=Phylogenetic relationships in the mushroom genus ''Coprinus'' and dark-spored allies based on sequence data from the nuclear gene coding for the large ribosomal subunit RNA: divergent domains, outgroups, and monophyly |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1–19 |year=1999 |pmid=10508535 |doi=10.1006/mpev.1999.0634|s2cid=15157909 }}</ref>

<ref name="Johnson 1999">{{cite journal |author=Johnson J. |year=1999 |title=Phylogenetic relationships within ''Lepiota'' ''sensu lato'' based on morphological and molecular data |journal=Mycologia |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=443–458 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0091/003/0443.htm |doi=10.2307/3761345|jstor=3761345 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="Kirk 2016">{{cite web |author=Kirk PM. |title=Species Fungorum (version 26th August 2015). In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/584e4a077b62e7ec41f0ca678ff67bf6 |access-date=2016-01-09 |archive-date=26 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926144144/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/584e4a077b62e7ec41f0ca678ff67bf6 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="McKnight 1985">{{cite journal |author=McKnight KH. |title=The small-spored species of ''Podaxis'' |journal=Mycologia |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=24–35 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0077/001/0024.htm |doi=10.2307/3793245|jstor=3793245 |year=1985 }}</ref>

<ref name="Miller 1988">{{cite book |author1=Miller, Hope H. |author2=Miller, Orson K. |title=Gasteromycetes: Morphological and Developmental Features, with Keys to the Orders, Families, and Genera |publisher=Mad River Press |location=Eureka, California |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-916422-74-5}}</ref>

<ref name="Moreno 1997">{{cite journal |vauthors=Moreno G, Mornand J |title=''Podaxis saharianus'' sp. nov. (Podaxales, Gasteromycetes), espèce nouvelle du Maroc |journal=Cryptogamie, Mycologie |year=1997 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=247–254 |language=fr}}</ref>

<ref name="Morse 1933">{{cite journal |author=Morse EE. |year=1933 |title=A study of the genus ''Podaxis'' |journal=Mycologia |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=1–33 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0025/001/0001.htm |doi=10.2307/3754126|jstor=3754126 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="Patouillard 1900">{{cite journal |vauthors=Patouillard NT, Hariot P |title=Énumération des champignons récoltés par M.A. Chevalier au Sénégal et dans le Soudan occidental |journal=Journal de Botanique (Morot) |year=1900 |volume=14 |pages=234–246 |language=fr |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2159412}}</ref>

<ref name="Priest 1999">{{cite journal |vauthors=Priest MJ, Lenz M |year=1999 |title=The genus ''Podaxis'' (Gasteromycetes) in Australia with a description of a new species from termite mounds |journal=Australian Systematic Botany |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=109–116 |doi=10.1071/SB95043}}</ref>

<ref name="Watling 1978">{{cite journal |author=Watling R. |year=1978 |title=From infancy to adolescence: advances in the study of higher fungi |journal=Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburg |volume=42 (supplement) |pages=61–73 |doi=10.1080/03746607808685324}}</ref>

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Category:Agaricaceae Category:Agaricales genera Category:Taxa named by Nicaise Auguste Desvaux