The "Robert Wallace" Collection of Great Britain Line Engraved - 15020
On Helotium dumbirense (Helotiales) and a collection from Britain
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Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 9 1 (3), 515-539 (1988) [5 15 ] Printed in Great Britain NOTES AND BRIEF ARTICLES ON HELOTIUM DUMBIRENSE (HELOTIALES) AND A COLLECTION FROM BRITAIN BY B. M. SPOONER Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW93AB Ciboria dumbirensis (Velen.) Spooner comb. nov. is proposed, and the first collection of this taxon from the British Isles is reported, described and illustrated. Among the transparencies of British fungi in the slide collection of the British Mycological Society, . catalogued by Miss Margaret Holden (1981), is one labelled Rutstroemia macrospora (Peck) Kanouse. This is a common fungus on dead wood in North America, Australia and eastern Asia, but there is no formal published record of its occurrence in Britain. The photograph is of a specimen collected in Dyfed in 1974, which was referred to Mr W. D. Graddon for determination and deposited in his personal herbarium. As the presence of typical R. macrospora in Europe is still questionable, it seemed pertinent to re-examine this Welsh collec- tion. Mr Graddon has now very kindly donated it to Kew herbarium for this purpose. The genus Rutstroemia Karsten was formerly interpreted with a rather wide circumscription, and recent authors prefer to assign most of the species once referred there to at least three other genera. Rutstroemia macrospora has been trans- ferred to Ciboria Fuckel, largely on anatomical grounds but, as there is already a different Ciboria macrospora (Sacc.) Sacc., the available name for it becomes C. peckiana (Cooke) Korf. The collection from Dyfed consists of three apothecia, up to 10 mm diam, on rotten de- corticated wood. The SUbstratum, not identified at the time of collection, has now been matched by Tim Lawrence of the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew, with reference material of Fagus sp. The fungus clearly belongs in the Sclerotiniaceae and, as it has apothecia with an ectal excipulum of thin-walled, isodiametric cells, it should indeed be referred to Ciboria. Undoubtedly, this fungus is very close to C. peckiana, having a comparable structure and similar large, somewhat curved ascospores, but it differs in several respects from typical material of this species. Ciboria peckiana was redescribed by White (1941), who quoted an ascospore size range of 22-34 x p,m and described the spores as 'oblong-fusoid " slightly pointed at the ends, eventually 3-8-septate, and as commonly budding globose secondary spores. These characters were confirmed by Spooner (1987) who recorded the spore size as 27-40 x 6'cr-7'S p,m. The present collection seems distinct from typical C. peckiana in the smaller, non-septate or rarely 1(-z)-septate, non-budding ascospores, and is also distinct from the two described forms of this species - C. peckiana f. gigaspora Korf, with ascospores 3S-46 x 6'S-8'S p,m, and C. peckiana f. novo- guineensis Spooner, with broad, Iodine-negative asci and broad, 1-s-septate ascospores 27-36 x 6·S-9·0p,m. Ciboria peckiana has recently been reported from Czechoslovakia by Svrcek (1984; as R. macrospora) , based on a re-examination of type material of Helotium dumbirense Velen., a montane species typically on rotten deciduous wood im- mersed in water. According to Svrcek, H. dumb- irense has gregarious, lignicolous apothecia up to 4 mm diam, with a cellular excipulum and asci with a strongly Iodine positive apical pore. The ascospores measure 1S-23 x 6'S-7'0 (-9'0) p,m, are oblong-elliptical to reniform, with densely nebu- lose content, and are not described as becoming septate. Two further collections, made in Slovakia by Dr R. W. G. Dennis and hitherto filed at K under the name R. macrospora, agree fully with the description of H. dumbirense, and with the Welsh collection. Although Svrcek (1984) has treated H. dumb- irense as a synonym of R. macrospora, the consist- ently smaller, mostly non-septate ascospores, not yet seen to bud secondary spores, characteristic of the European collections indicate a taxon separable at some level from C. peckiana var, peckiana. it is here recognized as a distinct species, and the name H. dumbirense is accordingly transferred to Ciboria. A detailed description of the Welsh collection is provided below. Ciboria peckiana occurs on woody tissues of many plants, but the host range of C. dumbirensis remains unknown. Both collections for which the
Transcript of On Helotium dumbirense (Helotiales) and a collection from Britain
Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 9 1 (3), 515-539 (1988)
[ 515 ]
Printed in Great Britain
NOTES AND BRIEF ARTICLES
ON HELOTIUM DUMBIRENSE (HELOTIALES) AND A COLLECTION FROMBRITAIN
BY B. M. SPOONER
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW93AB
Ciboria dumbirensis (Velen.) Spooner comb. nov. is proposed, and the first collection of thistaxon from the British Isles is reported, described and illustrated.
Among the transparencies of British fungi in theslide collection of the British Mycological Society, .catalogued by Miss Margaret Holden (1981), is onelabelled Rutstroemia macrospora (Peck) Kanouse.This is a common fungus on dead wood in NorthAmerica, Australia and eastern Asia, but there isno formal published record of its occurrence inBritain. The photograph is of a specimen collectedin Dyfed in 1974, which was referred to Mr W. D.Graddon for determination and deposited in hispersonal herbarium. As the presence of typical R.macrospora in Europe is still questionable, itseemed pertinent to re-examine this Welsh collec-tion. Mr Graddon has now very kindly donated itto Kew herbarium for this purpose.
The genus Rutstroemia Karsten was formerlyinterpreted with a rather wide circumscription,and recent authors prefer to assign most of thespecies once referred there to at least three othergenera. Rutstroemia macrospora has been trans-ferred to Ciboria Fuckel, largely on anatomicalgrounds but, as there is already a different Ciboriamacrospora (Sacc.) Sacc., the available name for itbecomes C. peckiana (Cooke) Korf.
The collection from Dyfed consists of threeapothecia, up to 10 mm diam, on rotten de-corticated wood. The SUbstratum, not identified atthe time of collection, has now been matched byTim Lawrence of the Jodrell Laboratory, Kew,with reference material of Fagus sp. The fungusclearly belongs in the Sclerotiniaceae and, as it hasapothecia with an ectal excipulum of thin-walled,isodiametric cells, it should indeed be referred toCiboria. Undoubtedly, this fungus is very close toC. peckiana, having a comparable structure andsimilar large, somewhat curved ascospores, but itdiffers in several respects from typical material ofthis species. Ciboria peckiana was redescribed byWhite (1941), who quoted an ascospore size rangeof 22-34 x ~8 p,m and described the spores as'oblong-fusoid " slightly pointed at the ends,eventually 3-8-septate, and as commonly budding
globose secondary spores. These characters wereconfirmed by Spooner (1987) who recorded thespore size as 27-40 x 6'cr-7'S p,m. The presentcollection seems distinct from typical C. peckianain the smaller, non-septate or rarely 1(-z)-septate,non-budding ascospores, and is also distinct fromthe two described forms of this species - C.peckiana f. gigaspora Korf, with ascospores3S-46 x 6'S-8'S p,m, and C. peckiana f. novo-guineensis Spooner, with broad, Iodine-negativeasci and broad, 1-s-septate ascospores 27-36 x6·S-9·0p,m.
Ciboria peckiana has recently been reportedfrom Czechoslovakia by Svrcek (1984; as R.macrospora) , based on a re-examination of typematerial of Helotium dumbirense Velen., a montanespecies typically on rotten deciduous wood im-mersed in water. According to Svrcek, H. dumb-irense has gregarious, lignicolous apothecia up to4 mm diam, with a cellular excipulum and asciwith a strongly Iodine positive apical pore. Theascospores measure 1S-23 x 6'S-7'0 (-9'0) p,m, areoblong-elliptical to reniform, with densely nebu-lose content, and are not described as becomingseptate. Two further collections, made in Slovakiaby Dr R. W. G. Dennis and hitherto filed at Kunder the name R. macrospora, agree fully with thedescription of H. dumbirense, and with the Welshcollection.
Although Svrcek (1984) has treated H. dumb-irense as a synonym of R. macrospora, the consist-ently smaller, mostly non-septate ascospores, notyet seen to bud secondary spores, characteristic ofthe European collections indicate a taxon separableat some level from C. peckiana var, peckiana. it ishere recognized as a distinct species, and the nameH. dumbirense is accordingly transferred to Ciboria.A detailed description of the Welsh collection isprovided below.
Ciboria peckiana occurs on woody tissues ofmany plants, but the host range of C. dumbirensisremains unknown. Both collections for which the
Notes and brief articles
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Fig. l(A-D) Ciboria dumbirensis. (A) Apothecia; (B) ascospores; (C) asci, showing blue pore in Melzer'sReagent, and paraphyses; (D) cells from ectal excipulum.
Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 91 (3), (1988) Printed in Great Britain
Notes and brief articles
substrate is known are on Fagus. A possibly relatedspecies is C. bolaris (Batsch: Fr.) Fckl, known fromEurope and North America but not as yet fromBritain. Old British records of this name werebased on misidentifications. Ciboria bolaris hasascospores similar to those of C. dumbirensis, butslightly shorter and eventually 1-5-septate. Itfurther differs in its reddish-orange disc, excipularcells with golden-yellow content (White, 1941;Dennis, 1956), and in occurring mostly on Carpinusor occasionally on Corylus and Alnus. No otherlignicolous species of Ciboria are known fromBritain.
Ciboria dumbirensis (Velen.) comb. nov.(Fig. 1)
Helotium dumbirense Velen., Mon. Disc. Bohem.:188 (1934).
Apothecia 5-10 mm diam, 3-5 mm high, super-ficial on decorticated wood, scattered or gregarious,short-stipitate. Disc smooth, depressed or undulate,dark vinaceous-brown or purplish-chestnut whenrehydrated, drying blackish-brown; margin irreg-ular, usually somewhat lobedand undulate. Recept-acle shallow cupulate or infundibuliform, palerthan the disc, pale cinnamon when rehydrated,pale yellowish-brown when dry, glabrous above,finely furfuraceous or minutely puberulent belowand on the stipe, often binding debris, near themargin with shallow, concentric ridges, marginoften reftexed. Stipe central or slightly eccentric,short, stout, slightly tapered, ca 2 mm diam,concolorous. Asci 160-200 x tt-,'-13/lm, 8-spored,cylindric, tapered below, apex slightly narrowed,rounded-truncate, pore stronglYi blue in Melzer'sreagent. Ascospores 18-25 (-31) x 5'5-1'0 (-7'5) {lm,ellipso-fusoid, usually curved and somewhat reni-
form, smooth, hyaline, mostly non-septate, rarely1(-2)-septate, contents densely and minutely gut-tulate, uniseriate within the ascus. Paraphysesfiliform, obtuse, sparsely septate, equal in length tothe asci, 2'0-2'5 {lm diam. Ectal excipulum com-posed of globose or subglobose, thin-walled,hyaline cells mostly 8-10/lm, diam.
Specimens examined: Wales, Dyfed, Narberth, on decor-ticated wood of Fagus, Oct. 1974, S. C. Porter; Czecho-slovakia, Srdiecko, Nizke Tarry, 1200 m, on rotten woodof Fagus, 5 Sept. 1960, R. W. G. Dennis; Srdiecko, onrotten wood, 7 Sept. 1960, R. W. G. Dennis.
My thanks are due to Miss M. Holden for firstbringing the Welsh collection to my attention, toMr W. D. Gradddon for making the collectionavailable for study and donating it for preservationat K, to Tim Lawrence for determining thesubstratum, and to Dr R. W. G. Dennis for helpfuldiscussion and for critically reading the manu-script.
REFERENCES
DENNIS, R. W. G. (1956). A Revision of the BritishHelotiaceae in the Herbarium of the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew, with notes on related European species.Mycological Papers (eM!) 6z, 1-216.
HOLDEN, M. (1981). The Slide Collection. Bulletin of theBritish Mycological Society 15, 9-15.
SPOONER, B. M. (1987). Helotiales of Australasia: Geo-glossaceae, Orbiliaceae, Sclerotiniaceae, Hyaloscyph-aceae. Bibliotheca Mycologica 116, 1-711.
SVRCEK, M. (1984). A taxonomic revision of inoperculatediscomycetes described by J. Velenovsky in the genusHelotium preserved in National Museum, Prague.Sbornik Narodniho Muzea v Praze 40B, 129-215.
WHITE, W. L. (1941). A monograph of the genusRutstroemia (Discomycetes). Lloydia 4, 153-240.
ON THE GENUS WUESTNEIA
BY D. ANANTHAPADMANABAN*
Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, University of Madras, Madras 600 005, India
The genus Cryptosporella classified in the Diaporthales is found to have an earlier name inWuestneia. The type species of the two taxa are described and illustrated.
The genus Wuestneia was established by Auerswald(in Fuckel, 1863) with a brief diagnosis: 'Asciscylindraceis; sporidis uniserialibus, ovalibus ob-longisve, rectis '. Nine species were listed, W.aequilineariformis Auersw. (nom. inval., Art. 32),W. aurea (Fuckel) Auersw., W. fibrosa (Pers.)
* Present address: Institute of Microbial Technology,177-G, Industrial Area Phase-I, Chandigarh 160002.
Auersw., W. fuckelii Auersw. (nom. inval., Art.32), W. monadelpha (Fr.) Auersw., W. sphinctrina(Fr.) Auersw., W. stilbostoma (Fr.) Auersw., W.suffusa (Fr.) Auersw. and W. tessera (Fr.) Auersw.However, Fuckel (1870) did not recognize thegenus Wuestneia and transferred its species tovarious genera. He considered W. aequilineari-formis, W. fuckelii, W. monadelpha, W. sphinctrinaand W. suffusa to be synonyms of Diaporthe detrusa
Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 91 (3), (1988) Printed in Great Britain
