page_title: Russulaceae
section_title: Other types of mycorrhiza
hierarchical_section_title: Russulaceae / Ecology / Other types of mycorrhiza
caption_attribution_description: Base of Monotropa uniflora inflorescence and myco-heterotrophic roots of M. uniflora and Russula brevipes. From Washington County, Vermont.
context_page_description: The Russulaceae are a diverse family of fungi in the order Russulales, with roughly 1,900 known species and a worldwide distribution. They comprise the brittlegills and the milk-caps, well-known mushroom-forming fungi that include some edible species. These gilled mushrooms are characterised by the brittle flesh of their fruitbodies.
  In addition to these typical agaricoid forms, the family contains species with fruitbodies that are laterally striped, closed, or crust-like. Molecular phylogenetics has demonstrated close affinities between species with very different fruitbody types and has discovered new, distinct lineages.
  An important group of root-symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi in forests and shrublands around the world includes Lactifluus, Multifurca, Russula, and Lactarius. The crust-forming genera Boidinia, Gloeopeniophorella, and Pseudoxenasma, all wood-decay fungi, have basal positions in the family.
context_section_description: Some of the ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae are also involved in other types of root symbioses with plants.
  A mutualistic association similar to ectomycorrhiza but with some hyphae penetrating into the plant root cells, termed arbutoid mycorrhiza, is formed by Russulaceae with shrubs of the genera Arbutus and Arctostaphylos, both in subfamily Arbutoideae of the Ericaceae.
  Some Russulaceae are associated with myco-heterotrophic plants of the Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae, forming monotropoid mycorrhiza. This is an epiparasitic relationship, where the heterotrophic plant ultimately derives its carbon from the primary, ectomycorrhizal plant partner of the fungus. The association is often very specific, with the heterotrophic plants only associating with selected fungus partners, including Russulaceae.
  Russulaceae are also an important group of orchid mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis is mutualistic in the case of green orchids, but a partly or fully epiparasitic relationship in the case of myco-heterotrophic and mixotrophic orchids, respectively. In some cases, the association with Russulaceae is, as in monotropoid mycorrhiza, very specific: the Mediterranean orchid Limodorum abortivum predominantly associates with Russula delica and closely related species; in Corallorhiza maculata, different genotypes of the same species have distinct Russula partners.
caption: Root tips of the myco-heterotrophic plant Monotropa uniflora, with a mycorrhizal sheath formed by Russula brevipes
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