Gustav Heinrich Adolf Engler, 1844–1930, was a German botanist and
plant geographer. His best-known publication (with Karl von Prantl) is
Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien (The Natural Plant Families)
published in parts from 1887 to 1911. In this work, Engler and Prantl
provided a comprehensive system of plant classification that became
widely accepted and was the principal one used in herbariums and
elsewhere worldwide until the 1970s. Engler’s Syllabus der
Pflanzenfamilien, which first appeared in 1892 under a different
title, is essentially an outline summary of the larger work. Taking on
a life of its own, many subsequent editions of the Syllabus appeared,
and it was continued by others after Engler’s death. The most recent
edition was the 12 th in 1954. The 13 th edition, the first in
English, began in 2009 with the publication of Part 3, Bryophytes and
Seedless Vascular Plants, and has continued with the release of
additional parts in 2012, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
So why are we interested in a book about plants originally written by
a botanist? Because, until rather recently, fungi were considered to
be plants and so they, along with cyanobacteria, algae, and lichens,
were treated by Engler along with the real plants. This is the third
of three (sub)parts of the Syllabus that deal, fully or in part, with
fungi. Part 1/1, published in 2012, covers, along with a variety of
non-Fungi things, the Chytridiomycota, Zygomycota, and
Glomeromycota. Part 1/2, reviewed in the Fall 2016 issue of FUNGI,
treats the Ascomycota. Last, but not least (and actually the most, if
you count pages), Part 1/3 deals with the Basidiomycota (comprising
the sub-phyla Pucciniomycotina [the rusts], Ustilaginomycotina [the
smuts], and Agaricomycotina [the mushrooms, in a very broad sense])
and the Entorrhizomycota.
The authors are well aware of the difficulty in producing such a
comprehensive work when the classification of fungi, as well as that
of other organisms, is undergoing such rapid and widespread change as
a result of the accumulation of data from molecular sequencing. Thus,
they view this as nothing like the final word, rather as a snapshot of
a work in progress. In the Preface, the editor of the series (Wolfgang
Frey) describes the new edition of the Syllabus as “Following the
tradition of Engler, and incorporating the latest results from
molecular phylogenetics and phylogenomics, this completely
restructured and revised 13 th edition provides an up-to-date
evolutionary and systematic overview of the fungal and plant groups.”
As was stated in Part 1/2, “phylogenetic revisions have revolutionized
the systematic classification of taxa from phylum to species level and
a new understanding of fungal evolution and species delimitation has
emerged. These new insights are here treated in an integrated context
of morphological and molecular data, providing an up-to-date synopsis
... while acknowledging that the systematic classification of this
group of Fungi is not yet fully settled.” The latter is somewhat of an
understatement.
Be forewarned, this is not an enthralling page-turner unless you
happen to be an ultimate taxonomy nerd. It is a reference work that
likely will sit on your shelf until you need to learn something about
a basidiomycete whose name you have encountered for the first time or
to find out who is thought to be close cousin of whom, especially in
light of the decreasing degree to which macro appearance is thought to
faithfully reflect evolutionary relationships. Following a one-page
Introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 provides a succinct summary of the
phylum, Basidiomycota, basidiomycete morphological characteristics and
life cycles, ecology and distribution, and systematic arrangement of
taxa. Given the tiny size of the Entorrhizomycota, two genera and 15
species, it receives only occasional mention. (By the way, this phylum
includes species that occur within the roots of sedges and rushes.
They are thought to be parasitic, and cause the formation of galls on
the root tips. Here the group is included in Dikarya, along with the
Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, but that placement should be considered
tentative.)
Chapter 3 consists of a 7-page synopsis of the classification of the
Basidiomycota and Entorrhizomycota, the latter consisting of a mere
six short lines of text. Chapter 4, Systematic Arrangement of the Taxa
of the Basidiomycota, makes up the bulk of the book (more below),
Chapter 5 does the same for the Entorrhizomycota, and Chapter 6 gives
us nine new or amended sub-classes or super-orders. A list of
references for the figure captions and an index to taxa complete the
book. General references are placed throughout the book after the
appropriate sections.
Following the outline provided in Chapter 3, Chapter 4 cycles through
the subphyla, classes, orders, families, and genera, providing brief
descriptions of each taxon, numbers of lower-level taxa within them,
and reference citations (there is a huge number of them). Having
descriptions of genera is a welcome change from the Ascomycota volume,
in which descriptions were provided only to family level. The addition
of these descriptions accounts for the much higher number of pages in
this Part, even though Basidiomycota contains far fewer genera (~1840
vs. ~6100) and species (~36,000 vs. ~57,000) than Ascomycota. Within
the subphyla Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina, the entries are
arranged alphabetically. Within the Agaricomycotina, the higher-level
taxa follow a phylogenetic order, whereas the families and genera are
arranged alphabetically.
Illustrations are placed at the end of major sections, and include
color photographs, black & white photographs, line drawings, and
phylogenetic trees. Most of the photos and drawings are grouped into
plates (although they are referred to as “figures”) that typically
include a dozen or more individual images that principally illustrate
macroscopic and microscopic morphological features. Though individual
images mostly are rather small, they are of good to high quality. My
only reservation is that, in cases where the subject is relatively
large (like many of the mushrooms, for instance), it is very difficult
to see much detail.
Those with an interest in the entorrhizomycetes will probably not find
this volume worth the price given that their fungi merit only two
pages of coverage. However, it will be a necessity for anyone making a
serious study of the basidiomycetes and will no doubt find a place in
most university mycology labs and libraries. I view the inclusion of
genus descriptions as a major benefit likely to increase the
usefulness of the volume relative to its predecessors. Although it
could well come in handy for many non-affiliated folks, the price is
likely to prevent it from finding its way into the personal libraries
of most amateur mycologists.
Steve Trudell
FUNGI Volume 12:1, Spring 2019