Sparassis crispa (Wulfen) Fr.
(Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus)

Interactions where Sparassis crispa is the controlling partner and gains from the process

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'References').

Stage		Summary			Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active Taxon Uncertain	Active State	Active Part	Active Stage	Relationship	Relationship Uncertain	Relationship Geography	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive Taxon Uncertain	Passive State	Passive Part	Passive Stage	Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon	Indoors etc	Season
fruitbody		fruitbody parasitises live root			Sequoia sempervirens	Coastal Redwood	Pinales: Cupressaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / parasite			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Cupressaceae/Sequoia sempervirens/	Sequoia sempervirens	coastal redwood		live	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody is saprobic on dead root			Sequoia sempervirens	Coastal Redwood	Pinales: Cupressaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / saprobe			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Cupressaceae/Sequoia sempervirens/	Sequoia sempervirens	coastal redwood		dead	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody parasitises live root			Cedrus	cedars	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / parasite			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Cedrus/	Cedrus	cedars		live	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody is saprobic on dead root			Cedrus	cedars	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / saprobe			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Cedrus/	Cedrus	cedars		dead	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody parasitises live root			Picea	spruces	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / parasite			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Picea/	Picea	spruces		live	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody is saprobic on dead root			Picea	spruces	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / saprobe			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Picea/	Picea	spruces		dead	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody parasitises live root			Pinus	pines	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / parasite			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Pinus/	Pinus	pines		live	root		Major
fruitbody		fruitbody is saprobic on dead root			Pinus	pines	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / saprobe			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Pinus/	Pinus	pines		dead	root		Major
fruitbody		fruitbody parasitises live root			Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas Fir	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / parasite			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Pseudotsuga menziesii/	Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas fir		live	root		Minor
fruitbody		fruitbody is saprobic on dead root			Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas Fir	Pinales: Pinaceae	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota, Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	/Fungi/Basidiomycota/Agaricomycetes/Polyporales/Sparassidaceae/Sparassis crispa/	Sparassis crispa	wood cauliflower, brain fungus				fruitbody	Foodplant / saprobe			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Pinopsida/Pinales/Pinaceae/Pseudotsuga menziesii/	Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas fir		dead	root		Minor

Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus) may also be included in 'feeds on' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus) may be included in 'fed on by' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

POLYPORALES
(polypores)

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Fungi s.l.
(fungi (in the broad sense))

Author & Year	Title	Source
Legon, N.W. & Henrici, A. with Roberts, P.J., Spooner, B.M. & Watling, R., 2005	Checklist of the British and Irish Basidiomycota	517pp, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Taxonomic hierarchy:

Species	Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus)
Family	SPARASSIDACEAE (cauliflower fungi)
Order	POLYPORALES (polypores)
Subclass	AGARICOMYCETIDAE (a subclass of basidiomycetes)
Class	AGARICOMYCETES (a class of fungi)
Subphylum	AGARICOMYCOTINA
Phylum	BASIDIOMYCOTA (spore droppers)
Kingdom	FUNGI (true fungi)
Domain	Eukaryota (eukaryotes)
Life	BIOTA (living things)

Sparassis crispa is also a member of:
Fungi s.l. - fungi (in the broad sense) (via Fungi)
Lower Plants - lower plants (via Fungi s.l.)

NBN

NBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus)

Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus) may be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

POLYPORALES
(polypores)

AGARICOMYCETIDAE
(a subclass of basidiomycetes)

AGARICOMYCETES
(a class of fungi)

BASIDIOMYCOTA
(spore droppers)

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Fungi s.l.
(fungi (in the broad sense))

Literature listed under the following higher taxa may be relevant to Sparassis crispa (Wood Cauliflower, Brain Fungus):

POLYPORALES
(polypores)

AGARICOMYCETIDAE
(a subclass of basidiomycetes)

AGARICOMYCETES
(a class of fungi)

BASIDIOMYCOTA
(spore droppers)

FUNGI
(true fungi)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Fungi s.l.
(fungi (in the broad sense))

A large cauliflower-like fungus that is widespread and common, although usually seen in only small numbers. It fruits at the base of conifers, especially Pine (Pinus), where it is parasitic then saprobic on the roots, eventually killing the tree.

Creative Commons License

This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioInfo website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

BioInfo - Wildlife Information (UK)