{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Automatic_taxobox | image = Pseudocolus fusiformis 423862.jpg | image_caption = ''Pseudocolus fusiformis'' | taxon = Pseudocolus | authority = Lloyd (1907) | type_species = ''Pseudocolus fusiformis'' | type_species_authority = Lloyd (1909) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}

'''''Pseudocolus''''' is a genus of fungi in the stinkhorn family. The fruit bodies have three or four simple arms that are initially joined at the tip, but often break apart. The tips of the arms are covered with a slimy, foul-smelling gleba, which attracts insects that help disperse the spores. The genus contains three species: the type ''Pseudocolus fusiformis'', ''P. garciae'', similar in appearance to the type but with a pinkish to red, rather than orange color, and ''P. grandis'', found in India.

==Taxonomy==

The first appearance of the type species, ''Pseudocolus fusiformis'', in the literature was in 1890, under the name ''Colus fusiformis'', when Eduard Fischer wrote a description based on a painting he found in the Paris Museum of Natural History.<ref name="Fischer 1890"/> In his 1944 monograph on the Gasteromycetes of Australia and New Zealand, Gordon Herriot Cunningham considered this naming to be a ''nomen nudum''—not published with an adequate description.<ref name="Cunningham 1944"/> However, it was valid under the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. In 1899 Penzig described the species ''Colus javanicus'' based on a single specimen found on Java,<ref name="Penzig 1899"/> and a year later Fischer amended the name of his original ''Colus fusiformis'' to ''Colus javanicus'', as he was not satisfied with the quality of his original description.<ref name="Fischer 1900"/> Despite his doubts on the validity of his description, his original naming is both legitimate and has priority over ''C.&nbsp;javanicus''.<ref name="Blanton 1976"/>

In 1907, Curtis Gates Lloyd described the new genus ''Pseudocolus'', and reduced several species to synonyms of ''Pseudocolus fusiformis''.<ref name="Lloyd 1907"/>

==Description==

The fruit body consists of a flaring, short stipe surmounted by unbranched columns that bear the gleba and are normally united at the apex, occasionally becoming free. The tissue of the receptacle has a tubular structure.<ref name="Dring 1980"/>

==Species== Several species described as ''Pseudocolus'' have been reduced to synonymy with ''P.&nbsp;fusiformis'', while others are poorly known and have been seldom reported in the literature since their original descriptions. *''Pseudocolus archeri'' <small>(Berk.) Lloyd (1913)</small> :Originally described in 1860 by Miles Joseph Berkeley as ''Lysurus archeri '',<ref name="Berkeley 1860"/> this name is one of many synonyms now lumped under ''Clathrus archeri'' <small>(Berk.) Dring (1980)</small> *''Pseudocolus fusiformis'' <small>(E.Fisch.) Lloyd (1909)</small> :Originally ''Colus fusiformis'' <small>E.Fisch.</small><ref name="Fischer 1890"/> *''Pseudocolus garciae'' <small>(Möller) Lloyd (1907)</small> *''Pseudocolus grandis'' <small>J.A. Sáenz, Rawla & R. Sharma (1982)</small><ref name="Saenz 1982"/> *''Pseudocolus jaczewskii'' <small>Woronow (1918)</small> :Described in 1918 from specimens collected by Voronoc in South Colchis; synonymous with ''P.&nbsp;fusiformis''<ref name="Burk 1978"/> *''Pseudocolus javanicus'' <small>(Penz.) Lloyd (1907)</small> *''Pseudocolus mauritianus'' <small>Lloyd (1917)</small> *''Pseudocolus rothae'' <small>(Lloyd) Yasuda (1916)</small> *''Pseudocolus rothae'' <small>Lloyd (1907)</small> *''Pseudocolus schellenbergiae'' <small>(Sumst.) Johnson (1929)</small>

==Distribution==

''Pseudocolis fusiformis'' is known from east Asia and Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, and southern Africa, and has been introduced to the United States.<ref name="Kibby 1994"/> ''P.&nbsp;garciae'' is found in North America and South America.<ref name="Dring 1980"/> ''P.&nbsp;grandis'' is found in both northern and southern India.<ref name="Kumaresan 2008"/>

==References==

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name="Berkeley 1860">{{cite book |author=Hooker JD. |title=Botany of the Antarctic Voyage. III Flora Tasmaniae |volume=2 |year=1860 |page=264 }}</ref>

<ref name="Blanton 1976">{{cite journal |author=Blanton RL. |year=1976 |title=''Pseudocolus fusiformis'', new to North Carolina |journal=Mycologia |volume=68 |issue=6 |pages=1235–9 |doi=10.2307/3758756 |jstor=3758756 |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cyberliber/59350/0068/006/1235.htm|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="Burk 1978">{{cite journal |author=Burk WR. |title=''Pseudocolus fusiformis'': synonymy and distributional records |journal=Mycologia |year=1978 |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=900–5 |jstor=3759379 |doi= 10.2307/3759379 }}</ref>

<ref name="Cunningham 1944">{{cite book |author=Cunningham GH. |year=1944 |title=The Gasteromycetes of Australia and New Zealand |location=Dunedin, New Zealand}}</ref>

<ref name="Dring 1980">{{cite journal |author=Dring DM. |year=1980 |title=Contributions towards a rational arrangement of the Clathraceae |journal=Kew Bulletin |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–96+ii |doi=10.2307/4117008 |jstor=4117008|bibcode=1980KewBu..35....1D }}</ref>

<ref name="Fischer 1890">{{cite journal |author=Fischer E. |year=1890 |title=Untersuchungen zur vergleichenden Entwicklungsgeschichte und Systematik der Phalloideen. I |journal=Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen Schweizerischen Geseallschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften |volume=32 |language=de |pages=1–103}}</ref>

<ref name="Fischer 1900">{{cite journal |author=Fischer E. |year=1900 |title=Untersuchungen zur vergleichenden Entwicklungsgeschichte und Systematik der Phalloideen. III |journal=Neue Denkschriften der allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaften |volume=36 |language=de |pages=1–84}}</ref>

<ref name="Kibby 1994">{{cite book |title=An Illustrated Guide to Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America |author=Kibby G. |year=1994 |publisher=Lubrecht & Cramer Ltd |location=London, UK |isbn=978-0-681-45384-5 |page=158}}</ref>

<ref name="Kumaresan 2008">{{cite journal |vauthors=Kumaresan V, Ganesan T, Rajarajan D |title=''Pseudocolus grandis'' from Southern India |journal=Mushroom Research |year=2008 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=69–70 |issn=0972-4885}}</ref>

<ref name="Lloyd 1907">{{cite journal |author=Lloyd CG. |year=1907 |title=Concerning the phalloides |journal=Mycological Notes |volume=2 |issue=28 |pages=349–64}}</ref>

<ref name="Penzig 1899">{{cite journal |author=Penzig O. |year=1899 |title=Über javanische Phalloideen |journal=Annales du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg |volume=16 |pages=133–73 |language=de}}</ref>

<ref name="Saenz 1982">J.A. Sáenz, Rawla & R. Sharma, 1982, Revista de Biología Tropicale 30(1):102.</ref>

}}

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Category:Phallales Category:Agaricomycetes genera Category:Taxa named by Curtis Gates Lloyd Category:Taxa described in 1907