Pyropyxis is a genus of fungi in the family Pyronemataceae. It was circumscribed in 1984 by Keith Egger, to contain the single species Pyropyxis rubra.[1] This species was originally described by Charles Horton Peck in 1872 as a species of Peziza.[2] The genus name, said to be derived from the Greek word for "fire" (pyros) and the Latin word pyxis, refers to the segregation of this species from the genus Geopyxis.[1] The proper word in ancient Greek for "fire" is however pyr (πῦρ).[3]

Pyropyxis
Scientific classification
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Pyropyxis

Egger (1984)
Type species
Pyropyxis rubra
(Peck) Egger (1984)
Synonyms
  • Peziza rubra Peck (1872)

Fruit bodies of the fungus are cup shaped, with a pink to reddish-orange color. Pyropyxis rubra has a Dichobotrys anamorph. The species is found in North America, where it grows as a saprophyte on burned forest litter in both mixed and deciduous forests.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Egger M. (1984). "Pyropyxis, a new pyrophilous operculate discomycete with a Dichobotrys anamorph". Canadian Journal of Botany. 62 (4): 705–708. doi:10.1139/b84-103.
  2. ^ Peck CH. (1872). "Report of the Botanist (1870)". Annual Report on the New York State Museum of Natural History. 24: 41–108 (see p. 95).
  3. ^ Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.