Boletales in the context of "Serpula lacrymans"

The Pezizaceae (commonly referred to as cup fungi) are a family of fungi in the Ascomycota which produce mushrooms that tend to grow in the shape of a "cup". Spores are formed on the inner surface of the fruit body (ascoma). The cup shape typically serves to focus raindrops into splashing spores out of the cup. Additionally, the curvature enables wind currents to blow the spores out in a different manner than in most agarics and boletes.

Cup fungi grow in peculiar shapes, frequently resembling cups or saucers. For example, the orange peel fungus (Aleuria aurantia) resembles a discarded orange rind. According to one 2008 estimate, the family contains 31 genera and 230 species.

The Agaricales are an order of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. As originally conceived, the order contained all the agarics (gilled mushrooms), but subsequent research has shown that not all agarics are closely related and some belong in other orders, such as the Russulales and Boletales. Conversely, DNA research has also shown that many non-agarics, including some of the clavarioid fungi (clubs and corals) and gasteroid fungi (puffballs and false truffles) belong within the Agaricales. The order has 46 extant families, more than 400 genera, and over 25,000 described species, along with six extinct genera known only from the fossil record. Species in the Agaricales range from the familiar Agaricus bisporus (cultivated mushroom) and the deadly Amanita virosa (destroying angel) to the coral-like Clavaria zollingeri (violet coral) and bracket-like Fistulina hepatica (beefsteak fungus).