Salmacisia

Salmacisia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Exobasidiomycetes
Order: Tilletiales
Family: Tilletiaceae
Genus: Salmacisia
D.R.Huff & A.Chandra (2008)
Type species
Salmacisia buchloëana
(Kellerm. & Swingle) D.R.Huff & A.Chandra (2008)
Synonyms
  • Tilletia buchloëana Kellerm. & Swingle (1889)

Salmacisia is a fungal genus in the family Tilletiaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Salmacisia buchloëana, first described as Tilletia buchloëana in 1889, and renamed in 2008. Plants infected by the fungus undergo a phenomenon known as "parasitically induced hermaphroditism", whereby ovary development is induced in otherwise male plants. Because of the pistil-inducing effects of the fungus, the authors have named the species pistil smut; it is the only species in the order Tilletiales known to have hermaphroditic effects.