Cyathus - History

History

Bird's nest fungi were first mentioned by Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius in Rariorum plantarum historia (1601). Over the next couple of centuries, these fungi were the subject of some controversy regarding whether the peridioles were seeds, and the mechanism by which they were dispersed in nature. For example, the French botanist Jean-Jacques Paulet, in his work Traité des champignons (1790–3), proposed the erroneous notion that peridioles were ejected from the fruit bodies by some sort of spring mechanism. The genus was established in 1768 by the Swiss scientist Albrecht von Haller; the generic name Cyathus is Latin, but originally derived from the Ancient Greek word κύαθος, meaning "cup". The structure and biology of the genus Cyathus was better known by the mid-19th century, starting with the appearance in 1842 of a paper by J. Schmitz, and two years later, a monograph by the brothers Louis René and Charles Tulasne. The work of the Tulasnes was thorough and accurate, and was highly regarded by later researchers. Subsequently, monographs were written in 1902 by Violet S. White (on American species), Curtis Gates Lloyd in 1906, Gordon Herriot Cunningham in 1924 (on New Zealand species), and Harold J. Brodie in 1975.