The
pileipellis is the uppermost layer of
hyphae in the
pileus of a
fungal fruit body. It covers the
trama, the fleshy tissue of the fruit body. The pileipellis is more or less synonymous with the
cuticle, but the cuticle generally describes this layer as a macroscopic feature, while pileipellis refers to this structure as a microscopic layer. Pileipellis type is an important character in the identification of fungi. Pileipellis types include the
cutis,
trichoderm,
epithelium, and
hymeniderm types.
