A and O Ceska
A and O Ceska
Note on Basidiomycete Cup Fungi
Ascomycete Cup Fungi in the Helotiales (Inoperculate Cup Fungi)
The operculate cup-fungi (Pezizales) include most, but not all, of the large fleshy cup-fungi found in the Pacific Northwest. The group also includes many small to minute (0.3-12 mm diam.) species that are usually overlooked because of their size, color, and/or habitat (e.g., dung of various types). A key to the genera is found in the key to PEZIZALES of the Pacific Northwest. Descriptions of all the species are found either as footnotes to that key, in the key to the PEZIZACEAE, or in the key to the SARCOSOMATACEAE.
The so-called inoperculate cup-fungi are Ascomycetes and like the Pezizales produce their spores within an ascus. The differentiation between the operculate cup-fungi and their cousins, the inoperculate cup-fungi, is based primarily on the fact that the operculate cup-fungi eject their spores through an opening in the ascus apex formed by an irregular tear, an apical split, or an apical to sub-apical flap or lid-like structure, the operculum (from which the group obtains its name), while the inoperculate cup-fungi eject their spores through a pore in the ascus apex. This differentiation is therefore based upon a microscopic character that is visible neither to the naked eye nor through the use of a handlens. Descriptions of the larger inoperculate cup fungi are presented here.
Some Basidiomycetes, which produce their spores on cells called basidia, have a cup-like form as well. Apart from bird’s nest fungi and a few that would be immediately recognized as Jelly fungi, none of them are greater than 0.5 cm across. None are commonly encountered. Descriptions of some 30 species may be found on CD MatchMaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. An interesting example is Valdensinia heterodoxa which grows on salal leaves and was only recently discovered to be common in the Pacific Northwest. Some, like Henningsomyces, grow as conglomerations of tube-like receptacles which together are easily seen by the naked eye but only reveal their fascinating structure to a hand lens. An attractive cup about 0.5 cm across develops on the pink crust Corticium minnsiae. Inside the cup there is often an egg-like sclerotium. The sclerotium may be splashed out of the cup by rain, the same way that raindrops splash the peridioles out of bird’s nest fungi.
| Corticium minnsiae A and O Ceska |
Lachnella alboviolascens A and O Ceska |
Of about 170 species recorded so far reported in the scientific literature for the Pacific Northwest, only about 20 reach a size of 0.5 cm. Descriptions of those are given here, along with a few common or conspicuous smaller ones. The places where they may key out while using the PEZIZALES key are footnoted in that key.
The most likely to be encountered casually in Pacific Northwest forests are Chlorociboria aeruginascens, which can be seen as blue-green staining of wood and less often as blue-green fruitbodies, and Ciboria rufofusca, on true fir cones in spring. Tatraea macrospora and the Encoelia species grow on wood. Cudoniella clavus is found on very wet wood, and usually has a convex rather than cup-shaped cap. Other species would only be found by looking at specific substrates, Chloroscypha flavida on yellow-cedar foliage at the edges of snow banks, the Ciboria species on catkins and seeds, Monilinia associated with mummified fruits, Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae and M. duriaeana on Carex (sedge), Sclerotinia juncigena on Juncus (rush), Sclerotinia veratri on Veratrum, Stromatinia gladioli on Gladiolus, Freesia, and Crocus, Ovulinia perplexa on vegetables, and Gloeotinia granigena on certain grass seeds.
Note that the ascomycete genera Ascocoryne and Bulgaria are not included despite their form which may be cup-shaped, because they are recognizable in the field as Jelly Fungi in the morphological sense. Ciborinia whetzelii (aspen ink spot) is common but is not included because its fruiting body is rare. Many species of smaller and larger inoperculate cup fungi are found in the Pacific Northwest but not yet reported in the scientific literature.
Fuller descriptions along with details of the other 150 species are given in the CD MatchMaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. There are many others that remain to be documented for the Pacific Northwest. Some cups that do not reach 0.5 cm draw attention to themselves by conspicuous coloring, for instance the minute yellow cups with white hairs at the margin in the genus Lachnum (Dasyscyphus), Lachnellula and Capitotricha.
| 0.1-0.3cm across, saucer-shaped to plate-shaped or convex, lemon yellow to yolk yellow; underside somewhat paler and smooth; stemless or with very short stem. FRUITING gregarious and cespitose on dead branches of hardwoods, spring to fall. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 8-14 x 3-5 um, elliptic, smooth, colorless, with 2 droplets, with single septum when mature, irregularly uniseriate. REMARKS common. | Bisporella citrina Michael Beug |
| 1-2 mm across, cup-shaped to plate-shaped, upper surface egg-yellow to orange-yellow, smooth, margin and exterior with dense covering of long white hairs. FRUITING found most often on old canes of salmonberry and other Rubus species, but also common on branches or twigs of hardwoods such as alder. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 6-12 x 1-2 um, fusiform to fusiform-clavate, smooth, colorless; paraphyses lanceolate, projecting beyond the asci. REMARKS very common in the Pacific Northwest. | Capitotricha bicolor Steve Trudell |
| up to 0.9(1.7) cm across, mostly 0.7-0.9 cm across, shallow cup-shaped to funnel-shaped, becoming convex-expanded to flattened, occasionally downcurved, may be spatula-shaped or otideoid (ear-shaped, like Otidea), olive-yellow to olive-green when fresh becoming chestnut brown to black when dry; underside dark olive-green to brownish olive when fresh, drying dark brown or greenish black, with a pruinose greenish yellow cast when dry, furrowed to wrinkled, stem up to 0.7 cm x 0.05-0.1 cm, colored as the exterior, bald, wrinkled. FRUITING superficial, single to gregarious, occasionally in cespitose clusters from a common stem, on decayed wood of conifers and hardwoods, fruiting in summer and fall, most often in fall. MICROSTRUCTURES spores (10)11-15(16) x 2.5-3.5 um, cylindric-oblong to allantoid (curved), smooth, colorless, unicellular to 1-septate. | Chlorencoelia versiformis George Barron |
Chlorociboria aeruginascens green stain, green cups
| less than 0.7 cm across, cup-shaped to spathulate when young, becoming expanded - funnel-shaped when fully mature; color varying from bluish aeruginous (blue-green) to whitish-pale-green or light orange-yellow, flesh thin, underside bluish aeruginous, bald or finely tomentose, lower part furrowed and wrinkled, stem less than 0.6 cm long and 0.1-0.15 cm wide, off-center to infrequently central, bluish aeruginous, frequently with several fruitbodies arising from a dark, irregularly shaped stromatic mass. FRUITING single to gregarious on barkless and decayed wood, spring, summer, and fall; wood stained blue-green is seen more often than the fruitbodies. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 5-7(10) x 1.0-1.5(2.4) um, (average 6 x 1.5 um), fusiform to elliptic-fusiform, smooth, colorless or with light green contents with bipolar droplets, 0-septate; asci 8-spored, (40)50-65(75) x 3-4(5) um; paraphyses thread-like, scarcely extending beyond asci, blunt at tip colorless, septate; ectal excipulum gives rise to few to numerous, coiled or sometimes straight, smooth-walled tomentum hyphae, tomentum hyphae 1.0-1.5(2) um wide. REMARKS Description derived from Dixon, according to whom Chlorociboria aeruginosa may be differentiated as follows. Chlorociboria aeruginascens has stem that is usually off-center (infrequently central), whereas stem of C. aeruginosa is usually central (rarely off-center), C. aeruginascens often has several fruitbodies arising from each darkly pigmented irregularly shaped stromatic mass, whereas C. aeruginosa arises singly from scarcely differentiated stromatic mass, spores of C. aeruginosa are (8)9-14(15) x 2-4 um, asci are (57)68-80(95) x (4)5-7(7.5) um and ectal excipulum gives rise "to few to numerous, straight or coiled, strongly granularly roughened tomentum hyphae". Dixon also describes interior stem flesh as orange yellow in C. aeruginosa and bluish aeruginous in C. aeruginascens. | Chlorociboria aeruginascens Ian Gibson |
| less than 0.5 cm across, cup-shaped to rarely convex-flat, the edges of the disc often inrolling to the point of touching, color varying even in the same collection from orange-yellow to almost like the undersurface (aeruginous) to light pea-green when fresh, becoming slightly darker to greenish black on drying; underside aeruginous (blue-green) when fresh, becoming bluish-aeruginous on drying, bald or finely tomentose, pustulate, often vertically ribbed or wrinkled; stem less than 0.3 cm x 0.05-0.1 cm, central to slightly off-center, colored as exterior, pustulate (often more so than exterior). FRUITING single to gregarious on decayed and barkless wood; spring, summer, and fall; wood stained blue-green is seen more often than the fruitbodies. MICROSTRUCTURES spores (8)9-14(15) x 2-4 um (average 13 x 3 um), fusiform-elliptic, colorless or with light green contents, 0-septate to 1-septate, with 2 prominent droplets and/or with several smaller droplets; asci 8-spored, (57)68-80(95) x (4)5-7(7.5) um; paraphyses thread-like, scarcely extending beyond asci, blunt at tip, colorless, septate; ectal excipulum gives rise to few to numerous, straight or coiled, strongly granularly roughened tomentum hyphae (if tomentum seems absent, check the margin of the fruitbody). REMARKS for differences from C. aeruginascens see that species. | Chlorociboria aeruginosa Michael Beug |
| 0.1-0.5cm across, up to 0.4cm tall, the spore-bearing upper surface at first concave becoming flat then convex when mature, bright yellow to yellow-ocher (drying dark olive), opaque, even; margin bald, not extending beyond spore-bearing surface, underside colored as upper surface, appearing translucent or gelatinous; bald except for short yellow fuzz at base; stem 0.2-0.5 cm long and about 1 mm wide. FRUITING scattered to gregarious on cones, twigs, and foliage of Cupressus nootkatensis (Yellow-cedar), consistently near or under melting snowbanks, April through August. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 26-34 x 9-11 um, nearly elliptic to oblong-elliptic but with one end broader than the other, smooth, colorless to yellow at first | Chloroscypha flavida A and O Ceska |
0.5-1.2 cm across, shallow cup-shaped then expanding to flat, light brown to yellowish brown, underside similar in color, smooth, stem 1-5 cm x 0.1-0.2 cm, often curved, light brown to yellow-brown, smooth. FRUITING arising from mummified catkins of alder and willow, usually in spring. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 7.5-13 x 4-6 um. REMARKS considered by some a synonym of Ciboria caucus.
0.2-0.8 cm wide, cup-shaped with incurved margin, expanding to saucer-shaped or somewhat disc-like, brown, stem 0.2-0.8 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. FRUITING arising from mummified fallen catkins of Populus and Salix (willow). MICROSTRUCTURES spores 9-10 x 5-6 um, elliptic or somewhat elliptic, colorless. REMARKS Ciboria amentacea is similar if not a synonym, but grows on Alnus (alder) and Salix.
| 0.3-1.0(1.5) cm, bladder-like when young, then goblet-shaped to saucer-shaped and expanded and flat, orange to chestnut-brown, pale to dark, smooth, margin sometimes wavy and split, as well as finely dusted with white, underside the same color as upper surface, frosted with white, stem 0.3-1.5 cm x 0.07-0.15 cm, brownish, darker toward base. FRUITING single to a few per scale, on damp scales of Abies (fir) cones lying on ground, in spring and early summer.MICROSTRUCTURES spores 4-7.5 x 2-3.5 um, oval, smooth, colorless. | Ciboria rufofusca Andrew Parker |
reaching 0.6 cm across, at first cup-shaped, expanding and often flat; interior spore-bearing surface flat or concave and fawn in color, underside smooth, stem reaching length of 1.0 cm and usually 0.05-0.08 cm wide, sometimes hairy toward the base when young. FRUITING single or two or three arising from a seed, on seeds of Alnus rubra (Red Alder). MICROSTRUCTURES spores 12-20 x 3.5-5 um, fusoid-elliptic, with ends attenuated.
| Pinkish, flaring cup-like structures about 0.5cm across develop on the upper side of conifer twigs and small branches. They may contain a pinkish sclerotium inside the cup 0.2-0.3cm across, that when mature is loosely attached at the base and easily removed. The cups may be accompanied by a thin, soft, pinkish, separable crust. MICROSTRUCTURES basidiospores 12-16 x 8.5-11 um, ovoid, smooth, inamyloid, colorless, basidia 4-spored; paraphyses abundant, 1.5-2 um wide, nodulose, with irregular peg-like branches. | Corticium minnsiae A and O Ceska |
| cap 3-6(10) mm across, concave becoming convex, cream to pale yellowish ocher or pale dull brown, sometimes flushed with violet tint, surface moist, smooth, and bald; stem 1.0-2.0 cm x 1 mm, darker at base, smooth or under hand lens slightly tomentose. FRUITING single to gregarious on rotting barkless twigs, leaves, and stems, especially those covered by water, as in ditches, wheel ruts, and boggy places; spring to summer. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 10-17 x 3-5 um, oblong-fusiform, often narrower at one end. REMARKS The name is ‘clavus’ not ‘clava’ because ‘clavus’ is a masculine Latin noun meaning ‘nail’. | Cudoniella clavus.jpg) Michael Wood (MykoWeb) |
| 0.5-1.5 cm across, closed and bladder-like when young, then splitting open apically more or less in the form of a star and becoming irregularly cup-shaped to saucer-shaped (the margin often incurved), cinnamon-brown to dark brown or light brown, drying black, underside covered with whitish to rust-colored mealy flakes that can be wiped off, stem none. FRUITING singly or in clusters of five or six on living or standing dead branches and trunks of Alnus (alder) and Corylus (hazel), often covering large areas of wood, December to May. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 6-11 x 2-2.5 um, cylindric with rounded ends, slightly curved. | Encoelia furfuracea John Plischke |
Encoelia pruinosa sooty bark canker
| 0.1-0.3(0.4) cm across, saucer-shaped upper surface brown to brownish black with a white granular coat, margin slightly scalloped; when weather dry, outer margins curl inward and the fruitbodies roll up showing the grayish brown, rough-surfaced underside, the fruitbodies then appearing as longitudinally split tubes, or boat-shaped or angular; stem short. FRUITING in BC known only from Populus tremuloides (Trembling Aspen), but reported to occur occasionally on Populus trichocarpa (Black Cottonwood) and Populus balsamifera (Balsam Poplar) in other areas; the fruiting occurs under or on the aspen bark, which rolls back exposing large blackened areas on which fruitbodies are seated; fruitbodies present at all seasons. MICROSTRUCTURESspores 8-11 x 2-3 um, sausage-shaped, colorless. REMARKS This fungus does not quite reach 0.5 cm but is included because of its economic importance. Sooty bark canker is the most damaging primary canker pathogen of aspen in northern and central BC, and in the Rocky Mountain region. The short-stemmed fruitbodies erupt by the thousands in blackened areas of standing and fallen dead aspen where bark has sloughed off. | Encoelia pruinosa Brenda Callan copyright 2011 Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada Natural Resources Canada Canadian Forestry Service |
0.1-0.7(3.5) cm wide, disc at first closed, opens to cup-shaped and with age becomes saucer-shaped and then flat; light pinkish brown to deep brown, orange brown, or pale pinkish cinnamon, margin smooth, margin radially wrinkled around top of stem, stem 0.1-1.0 cm x 0.02-0.05 cm, narrowing downward, white or gray, internally pinkish brown, longitudinally furrowed, smooth. FRUITING causes blind seed diseases of grasses; one to seven fruitbodies emerge from each infected seed, infected caryopses appearing shriveled, rough on the surface, and rusty brown or pinkish in color, conidia accumulate on seed surface in a slime which may be waxy and clear or pale pink in color, macroconidial state produced in a copious pink slime on surface in summer, microconidial state produced in pink pulvinate (cushion-shaped) structures. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 7-14 x 2.5-4.5 um, elliptic, fusoid to broadly fusoid, smooth, colorless; macroconidia 11-21 x 2.5-6 um, cylindric to slightly crescent-shaped with rounded ends, smooth, unicellular, microconidia 2.3-6 x 1.8-3.0 um, ovoid, colorless, unicellular.
| reaching 4 mm across but often much smaller, becoming shallow cup-shaped, upper surface creamy yellow to orange-yellow, margin and exterior with white hairs, underside white or pale yellow with white hairs, stipe short. FRUITING on bark and wood of conifers. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 6-10 x 2.5-4 um, narrow-elliptic, colorless, paraphyses clavate. REMARKS the most common Lachnellula in the Pacific Northwest according to Trudell & Ammirati (2009); Lachnellula occidentalis and Lachnellula willkommii have larger spores (10-20 x 3.5-9 um and 15-24 x 6-10 um respectively), Lachnellula suecica has round spores. | Lachnellula agassizii Steve Trudell |
| 3-5(7) mm across, cup-shaped to plate-shaped, pale to gold-yellow, outer surface and margin thickly set with brown hairs", stipe short. FRUITING on wood of Abies (true fir) and other conifers. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 6-8.5 x 2.5-4.5 um, elliptic, smooth, colorless, paraphyses cylindric, tips with slight clavate thickenings.REMARKS distinguished by brown exterior and hairs, relatively broad spores, and growth on the wood of Abies (fir) spp. | Lachnellula arida Steve Trudell |
| 1-4(10) mm across, cup-shaped to plate-shaped, spore-bearing upper surface yolk-yellow to orange, margin and exterior white hairy-felty, stipe short. FRUITING on bark of conifers (especially Ponderosa pine in PNW). MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 4.5-6.5 um, round, smooth, paraphyses barely projecting beyond the asci, thread-like. | Lachnellula suecica Steve Trudell |
| 0.5-2 mm across, cup-shaped to plate-shaped, upper surface white to cream, margin and exterior white and densely covered with white hairs, stem 0.5-1 mm long, densely covered with long white hairs. FRUITING primarily on hardwood debris. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 6-11 x 1.5-2.5 um, fusiform to fusiform-clavate, smooth, colorless, paraphyses projecting beyond asci, lanceolate, 4-5 um wide. REMARKS very common in the Pacific Northwest. | Lachnum virgineum Andrew Parker |
cup-shaped, later flat, long-stemmed, stem 1-3.5 cm. FRUITING mostly single, sometimes two, from sclerotia that form in overwintered mummified fruit of Prunus virginiana var. demissa (Western Chokecherry). MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 9-15 x 5-6 um, elliptic, one end narrower than the other, colorless, conidia (Monilia) produced on living leaves, twigs and fruits, in unbranched chains, ovoid to spherical, colorless, cream colored in mass, simple, 7-14 x 3-9 um.
Monilinia fructicola cherry cup
pale brown cup with stem, growing from thin black rind on mummified overwintered fruit of Prunus, (0.2)0.4-1.4 cm wide, deep cup-shaped to shallow cup-shaped or nearly flat, brown (sienna to ochreous to fulvous); colonies of conidial state buff-colored, grayish or with an olive tinge; underside slightly darker or lighter than upper surface, stem 1.5-4 cm long and about 0.1 cm wide at top, bay color, stroma well-developed, a thin, black rind on outside and inside surfaces of the flesh of the fruit, appears as a hollow somewhat spherical structure, often enclosing the mummified fruit. FRUITING fruitbodies arising in considerable numbers from mummified overwintered fruit on Prunus, conidia on fruit, peduncles, twigs, leaves, or blossoms. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 8.3-11.6 x 4.5-7.0 um, elliptic to oval; one-celled, binucleate. REMARKS Other Monilinia species remain to be documented in the Pacific Northwest.
0.1-0.5 cm, at first cup-shaped, later flat, circular, pale-gray becoming darker, stem 0.1-0.3 cm long. FRUITING conidial stage (a Monilia) on living leaves and fruits of Amelanchier cusickii (serviceberry), gregarious ascus-bearing stage on mummified fruits of same host. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 8-12 x 2-3.5 um, pointed at one end, colorless, containing 2 oil droplets, 1-seriate; conidia 5-13 x 4-13 um, round to lemon-shaped, light gray in mass; microconidia round, produced singly on short sporophores 2-3.5 um in diameter. REMARKS Seaver comments somewhat obscurely, "While this species has been recorded, Honey expresses some doubt, suspecting that the wrong fungus may have been reported as the perfect stage of the Monilia."
grayish brown cup or disc with a stem, growing gregariously on mummified plums, but rare in nature, conidial stage more common of soft grayish pustules on flowers, branchlets and young plums, upper surface of fruitbody reaching 0.4-0.9 cm broad, at first club-shaped, expanding and becoming cup-shaped, finally nearly flat with umbilicate center, gray to grayish brown or almost white, stem 1-3 cm x 0.1-0.2 cm. FRUITING usually several from the same stroma from mummified plums (Prunus); macroconidial anamorph (Monilia cinerea Bonord.) on flowers and branchlets and later on young fruits in spring and summer. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 7-19 x 4.5-8.5 um, elliptic, with rounded ends; asci 120-190 x 7.5-12 um; conidia 8-23 x 7-16 um, oval to lemon-shaped.
reddish brown cups, discs, or reflexed cups, with long thin stem, on mummified cranberries, upper surface 0.3-0.9 cm, about 0.5 cm wide and often as deep, cup at first rather deep, becoming shallow cup-shaped or often curved outwards, so that spore bearing surface concave, flat, or convex, dark reddish brown, underside similar in color to upper surface, stem 1-7 cm x 0.05-0.15 cm, gradually expanding at top into cup. FRUITING arising in early spring from hollow black pseudosclerotium (mummified berry), usually one but up to six from each pseudosclerotium, in fallen mummified fruits of Vaccinium oxycoccos (cranberry), macroconidial state on wilting shoot of the host in summer. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 9.5-14.5 x 5.5-8.5 um, abortive spores 6-10 x 4-5 um; conidia 14.5-25 x 9.5-15 um, oval, in chains with 3-6 um long disjunctors.
Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae
Groups of 2-16 cinnamon to umber brown, stemmed fruitbodies arise from a long sclerotium that develops between leaf sheaths of young sedge shoots, often in wet areas associated with Sphagnum. Fruitbodies are 1-3 cm across, cup-shaped tapering into the stem which is 3-10cm x 0.1-0.25cm. The exterior of the cup and stem are finely tomentose. The sclerotium is 3-20 cm x 0.4-1.5 cm, with a narrowed base and a elongated, pointed tip, with a black striate outside and white inside, developing apically between leaf sheaths of young shoots of Carex. A microconidial anamorph forms dark, elongate spots 0.2-0.4cm long, 0.1-0.2cm wide, usually arranged lengthwise along two sides of the culm. FRUITING M. caricis-ampullaceae prefers areas with rather deep Sphagnum peat and a large amount of water. MICROSCOPIC ascospores 11-16.5 x 7-10.2 um, broadly elliptic to oval, colorless, without droplets, 1-seriate; asci 8-spored; paraphyses 1-2 um wide, thread-like, slightly enlarged at tips to 3 um wide, colorless, septate, simple or branched from nearer the base; microconidia 2.5-3.5 um in diameter, round to oboval, containing one large oil droplet, with two small pieces of wall material at base, walls colorless to light brown. REMARKS Myriosclerotinia duriaeana also grows on Carex but has sclerotia less than 3cm long. The cups are smaller when mature and the stems shorter.
0.3-1.0 cm, cup-shaped, light brown to medium brown, stem 0.2-2.5 cm x 0.05-0.15 cm, arising from black sclerotium which is 0.5-1.8 cm x 0.1-0.3 cm, resembling sclerotium of Claviceps, fusiform (spindle-shaped), often inequilateral, or slightly curved in large specimens. FRUITING 1-3 fruitbodies arising from sclerotium which develops on Carex (sedge); sclerotia one to three in each culm, when mature exposed by the rupture of the epidermis along one or two faces of the culm which thus weakened soon breaks over widening the slit and allowing the sclerotia to fall. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 8-18 x 5-9 um, navicular, flattened to incurved on one side.
reaching 0.2-0.8 cm across, flesh-colored, stem reaching length of 0.1-0.2 cm; sclerotia gray when young, becoming dull-black, snow-white within, becoming pink or brown when old, depressed-subglobose, reaching 0.1-0.3 cm wide, forming thin black crusts of considerable extent. FRUITING one to many from a single sclerotium, one or many from single sclerotium; conidial stage on or accompanying the sclerotia, consisting of straight, or branched conidiophores often several mm long; on Jerusalem artichoke, onions, cucumber, cabbage, and a large number of cultivated vegetables. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 8-10 x 3.5-5 um, subelliptic; conidia 8-15 x 6-10.5 um.
0.4-0.5 cm wide, cup-shaped, shallow, somewhat umbilicate, thin-membranous, reddish brown, stem reaching 1 cm x 0.1 cm, attached in lower part to a spreading dark hyphal mat; sclerotia reaching 1.5 cm x 0.2 cm, one, possibly more within a diseased culm, slender, cylindric, truncate, with slightly rounded ends, externally black, sulcate (grooved), internally white when mature, enclosed in a cavity in the pith region of the culm. FRUITING in culms of Juncus, usually one fruitbody from each sclerotium. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 8-9 x 1-1.5 um, allantoid (curved sausage-shaped), slender, colorless.
| 0.15-1 cm across, yellow-brown to red-brown to vinaceous brown stemmed cup, with inrolled margins, becoming almost flat; spore-bearing surface similar in color; stem 0.5-2.5 cm x 0.05-0.1 cm, may be wider near top or bottom, yellow-brown to dark red-brown, bald to slightly tomentose in patches; growing from blackish crust or sclerotium that is 3-7 mm x 1-3 mm x 1 mm, flattened, elliptic to irregularly elongate, dark reddish brown to black outside, white inside. FRUITING on stems of rotting Veratrum spp. (corn-lily), in the spring, sclerotia were often observed on old stems but cups less often found. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 14.5-19 x 5-6.5 um, cylindric, colorless, with 2 to several droplets, irregularly 1-seriate, asci 8-spored; paraphyses 2-2.5 um wide at apex, thread-like, septate, simple or branched near base, pale brown. REMARKS A number of other Sclerotinia species occur in the Pacific Northwest. | Sclerotinia veratri.jpg) Michael Wood (MykoWeb) |
0.3-0.7 cm wide, 0.6-1.0 cm high, umbilicate, convex-discoid, sometimes convoluted, cinnamon-brown, stem chestnut-brown, growing from sclerotium which is black and 0.009-0.03 cm in diameter. FRUITING densely cespitose on Gladiolus, Freesia, and Crocus. MICROSTRUCTURES ascospores 10-16 x 5.6-9.5 um, elliptic, colorless; microconidia 1.2-1.8 um wide.
0.5-1.5 cm across, up to 1.5 cm high, convex, often somewhat depressed in center, becoming saucer-shaped with loss of water, dirty white or grayish, drying brownish, sometimes very dark on drying; margin not elevated in mature discs, rather acute, turning upward on drying, underside colored as upper surface, minutely furfuraceous, more obviously so on drying, stem v-shaped or papilliform when short, cylindric in lower part or somewhat tapering when long, smooth or rarely minutely furfuraceous. FRUITING single or more rarely in crowded clusters of 6-12, on hard parts of decaying stumps, logs, and fallen limbs of hardwood species, also reported on conifer wood. MICROSTRUCTURES spores 22-34 x 6-8 um, elongate, narrow oblong-fusoid, typically somewhat flattened on one side and tending to be slightly pointed toward the ends.
anamorph - the asexual reproductive manifestation of a fungus, characterized by asexual spores
cespitose - growing in tufts or close clusters from a common base, but not grown together
conidium (plural conidia) - asexual fungal spores formed by the pinching off of hyphae
ectal excipulum – the outer layer of the exterior (underside) of an ascomycete fruitbody
lanceolate - somewhat wider in middle and tapered at both ends
macroconidium (plural macroconidia) - the larger conidium of a fungus which also has microconidia
microconidium (plural microconidia) - the smaller conidium of a fungus that also has macroconidia
pseudosclerotium - structure appearing to be a sclerotium but not a true sclerotium, for instance incorporating host tissues or substrate
sclerotium (plural sclerotia) - a knot or firm frequently rounded mass of hyphae, usually underground, sometimes giving rise to mycelium or a fruiting body
stroma - a mass or matrix of hyphae, with or without tissue of the host or substrate, in or on which spores or fruitbodies are produced
| GENUS AND SPECIES |
| BISPORELLA Sacc. |
| B. citrina (Batsch ex Fr.) Korf & S.E. Carp. |
| CAPITOTRICHA (Raitv.) Baral |
| C. bicolor (Bull.) Baral |
| CHLORENCOELIA J.R. Dixon |
| C. versiformis (Pers.) J.R. Dixon |
| CHLOROCIBORIA Seaver ex Ramamurthi, Korf & L.R. Batra |
| C. aeruginascens (Nyl.) Kanouse ex C.S. Ramamurthi, Korf & L.R. Batra |
| C. aeruginosa (Pers. per Pers.: Fr.) Seaver ex Ramamurthi, Korf & L.R. Batra |
| CHLOROSCYPHA Seaver |
| C. flavida (Kanouse & A.H. Sm. |
| CIBORIA Fuckel |
| C. amentacea (Balb.) Fuckel |
| C. caucus (Rebent.) Fuckel |
| C. rufofusca (O. Weberb.) Sacc. |
| C. seminicola (Kienholz & E.K. Cash) Hechler |
| CORTICIUM Pers. |
| C. minnsiae (H.S. Jacks.) Boidin & Lanq. |
| CUDONIELLA Sacc. |
| C. clavus (Alb. & Schwein. ex Fr.) Dennis |
| ENCOELIA (Fr.) P. Karst. |
| E. furfuracea (Roth ex Pers.) P. Karst. |
| E. pruinosa (Ellis & Everh.) Tork. & Eckblad |
| GLOEOTINIA M. Wilson, Noble, and E.G. Gray |
| G. granigena (Prill. & Delacr.) M. Wilson, Noble, & E.G. Gray |
| LACHNELLULA P. Karst. |
| L. agassizii (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Dennis |
| L. arida (W. Phillips) Dennis |
| L. suecica (de Bary ex Fuckel) Nannf. in Lundell & Nannfeldt |
| LACHNUM Retz |
| L. virgineum (Batsch: Fr.) P. Karst. |
| MONILINIA Honey |
| M. demissa (B.F. Dana) Honey |
| M. fructicola (G. Winter) Honey |
| M. gregaria (B.F. Dana) Honey |
| M. laxa (Ehrenb.) Honey |
| M. oxycocci (Woronin) Honey |
| MYRIOSCLEROTINIA N.F. Buchw. |
| M. caricis-ampullaceae (Nyberg) N.F. Buchw. |
| M. duriaeana (Tul. & C. Tul.) N.F. Buchw. |
| OVULINIA F.A. Weiss |
| O. perplexa (W.H. Lawrence) Seaver |
| SCLEROTINIA Fuckel |
| S. juncigena (Ellis & Everh.) Whetzel |
| S. veratri E.K Cash & R.W. Davidson |
| STROMATINIA (Boud.) Boud. |
| S. gladioli (Massey) Whetzel |
| TATRAEA Svrček |
| T. macrospora (Peck) Baral |
- END -