Download Copy a link to this page Cite this record

Click to collapse Details Info

Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. in Raoul, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., 3e Sér. 2 114 (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844

Click to collapse Biostatus Info

Indigenous, non-endemic
Present
New Zealand
Political Region
Also reported as indigenous to Chile and Tasmania [JAC]

Click to collapse Nomenclature Info

Tul. & C. Tul.
Tul. & C. Tul.
1844
114
ICN
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
NZ holotype
species
Ileodictyon cibarium
Cunningham, 1931 states "Type locality.—Waitakei, Otago, New Zealand", but this does not agree with Tulasne "Hab. gregarius et frequens in pratis et sylvis peninsulae Banksianse."

Click to collapse Classification Info

cibarium

Click to collapse Descriptions Info

Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844

On the ground. Waitaki, Winton.
N.S.W.: Arncliffe; Gladesville; Tarrangobilly (Nat. Herb., Sydney, Cleland and Cheel, 1915, p. 216). South Australia: Blackwood, 7/30, E. Ashby.
New Zealand: Common throughout the lowland areas of both Islands.
Peridium obovate or subglobose, dingy-white, to 7 cm. diameter. Receptacle sessile, white, subglobose or commonly obovate, to 15 x 10 cm., composed of numerous obliquely anastomosing arms, which are transversely rugulose, in section elliptical, tubular or more often coarsely cellular, not or scarcely thickened at the interstices (though in some forms attaining a thickness twice that of the arms). Gleba covering the inner surfaces of the arms, olivaceous, mucilaginous, fetid. Spores tinted, elliptical, smooth, 4-6 x 1.8-2.5 µ.
Type locality.-Waitakei, Otago, New Zealand.
Distribution. New Zealand; Australia.

This is the only Clathrus known to occur with certainty from New Zealand, where it is exceedingly common in certain seasons, being found in spring and autumn on the edges of forest clearings, or freshly-turned earth at roadsides or tracks cut through the forest. It occurs sparingly in Australia, but its distribution is not certainly known since the species has been confused by earlier workers with the following one [Clathrus gracilis]. Fischer recorded it from Chile, West Africa (1890, p. 53) and East Africa (1893, p.19). I believe, however, that the species is confined to this biologic region, and that Fischer has confused it with plants later named C. Preussii, C. chrysomycelinus or C. camerunensis.

The receptacle varies greatly in size (5-15 cm.) and in the number and arrangement of the arms. In many plants the arms are numerous, and form a close mesh, in which the polygonal interspaces are small; in others the arms may be few and the meshes large and angular. The arms may anastomose in such a regular manner that in plants detached from the volva it is not possible to determine the apex from the base; or in others the arms towards the base may he arranged in columnar fashion, or in rare cases produced to form a small basal tube-like stem. The surfaces of the arms may be smooth, finely transversely wrinkled, or exteriorly longitudinally grooved. In section they may be tubular or coarsely cellular, both conditions being not infrequent in the same plant.

The receptacle is not attached to the volva in any way, consequently it may be readily detached and carried by wind for some distance from its place of origin. The appearance of these latticed structures without visible means of attachment to the substratum was a potent source of mystification to the Maori. Forced to find some explanation of their (to him) mysterious appearance, and guided no doubt by their characteristic odour he came to the conclusion (according to Mr. Eladon Best) that they were tutae kehua or tutae whetu ("Faeces of ghosts or of the stars"). The specific name (cibarius = edible) was applied to the species under the impression that the unexpanded plant was used as an article of food by the Maori. But this is improbable as it is scarcely likely he would meddle with a plant obviously (to him) of supernatural origin. This view is supported by Mr. Best, who has advised me that the plant was not included among those fungi considered edible by the Maori.

Click to collapse Taxonomic concepts Info

Clathrus cibarius (Tul. & C. Tul.) E. Fisch. 1886
Clathrus cibarius (Tul. & C. Tul.) E. Fisch. (1886)
Clathrus cibarius (Tul. & C. Tul.) E. Fisch. (1886)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul.
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. (1844)
Ileodictyon cibarium var. giganteum Colenso (1893) [1892]
Ileodictyon giganteum (Colenso) Colenso (1893) [1892]

Click to collapse Collections Info

Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Auckland
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Bay of Plenty
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Coromandel
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Gisborne
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Mid Canterbury
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Nelson
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
North Canterbury
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Northland
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Stewart Island
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Taranaki
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Taupo
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Three Kings Islands
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Waikato
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Wanganui
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Wellington
Ileodictyon cibarium Tul. & C. Tul. 1844
New Zealand
Westland

Click to collapse Notes Info

typification
Cunningham, 1931 states "Type locality.—Waitakei, Otago, New Zealand", but this does not agree with Tulasne "Hab. gregarius et frequens in pratis et sylvis peninsulae Banksianse."

Click to collapse Metadata Info

1cb18f1e-36b9-11d5-9548-00d0592d548c
scientific name
Names_Fungi
1 January 2001
20 August 2003
Click to go back to the top of the page
Top