Ceratostomella ampullasca

A lovely little Pyrenomycete, or Sordariomycete as it should be properly now I think, this one sticks up a spore cannon through the surface of the substrate. Though the above name is the one under which it can be found in Ellis and Ellis it has had a few names and is now called Natantiella ligneola. The genus name comes from the fact that the asci when mature float around freely in the perithecium.

Interestingly in the ascus below you can see many small oil drops inthe spores, but most of the mature spores when free seem to be bi-guttulate

From wikiipedia - "Sordariomycetes is a class of fungi in the subdivision Pezizomycotina (Ascomycota), consisting of 15 orders, 64 families, 1119 genera, and 10564 species." So there are about as many species of Sordariomycetes as there are of birds!

{New fungal genera, Tectonidula gen. nov. for Calosphaeria-like fungi with holoblastic-denticulate conidiogenesis and Natantiella gen. nov. for three species segregated from Ceratostomella.
Réblová M1, Stepánek V.
Author information
Abstract

Two morphologically similar groups of ascomycetes with globose to subglobose perithecia, elongate necks, unitunicate asci floating freely at maturity, and hyaline ascospores currently placed in Calosphaeria s. lat. and Ceratostomella s. lat., respectively, are studied. The Calosphaeria-like fungi have groups of perithecia growing between cortex and wood, arranged in circular groups with converging necks and piercing the cortex in a common point; the asci with a shallow apical ring and U- to horseshoe-shaped hyaline ascospores are compared with Calosphaeria pulchella, the type species of the genus. Conidiogenesis of the investigated Calosphaeria-like fungi is holoblastic-denticulate; ramichloridium-like and sporothrix-like conidiophores and conidia were formed in vitro. Ascospore and ascus morphology, structure of the ascal apex, ascogenous system, mode of conidiogenesis and the large subunit rRNA sequences of this group differ considerably from C. pulchella and both groups are unrelated. Thus a new genus, Tectonidula, is described with two accepted species, T. hippocrepida and T. fagi; they are separated by ascospore and ascus morphology and holoblastic-denticulate conidiogenesis from the core species of Calosphaeria. The placement of Tectonidula among perithecial ascomycetes is discussed. The relationship of Tectonidula with Barbatosphaeria and two ramichloridium-like hyphomycetous genera Rhodoveronaea and Myrmecridium is investigated. Three species formerly attributed to Ceratostomella are studied. The revision of the herbarium type specimen and fresh material of Ceratostomella ligneola revealed that it is conspecific with Ceratostomella ampullasca and Ceratostomella similis. The LSU phylogeny clearly separated C. ligneola from Ceratostomella s. str. and morphologically similar Lentomitella. On the basis of molecular sequence data and detailed comparison of morphology of asci, ascospores and ascogenous system the genus Natantiella is described for C. ligneola with C. ampullasca and C. similis as its synonyms. Natantiella produced sterile mycelium in vitro.}

Purple Picea eater

The very lovely Trichaptum abietinum at Calais Muir in Fife

Mycorrhiza as a gene transfer vector?

Intriguing ...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560187/

Pertusaria pertusa, Duror, 29/11/2015

Back onto the lichenised side of life, this is a nice - if common - species with a penchant for big spores - only two per ascus. It came from a small deciduous twig. Fortunately the fact that the apothecia look a bit like perithecia is caught in Dobson and he manages to sweep it back into the fold early in the key.

The Flora notes that subglobose warts with multiple apothecia per wart and two spored asci is pretty much to separate it from other species which might resemble it.

Coniophora puteana under the lens

From Calais Muir, 24/11/2015

I'm still not entirely sure when a "cystidium" is not a cystidium but have a feeling it relates to its origin within the hymenium. The thin elements here, which are not considered cystidiua, I suspect originate from the subiculum - the area below the hymenium, although that could well be wrong!

Long cylindrical basida - c.100u

Olive green and large spores - thick-walled

 

No clamps on basidia

"Cystidial elements"

More thin cyctidia-like elements

Basidium

Microfungi on land plants - Metasphaeria complanata at Calais Muir

On the dead stem of Hogweed these tiny picnidia produced abundant spores when squashed under the microscope. I wish I had tried to retain some of the structure in some of the shots. Maybe next time.

cylindrical spores

Edge of pycnidium

The mouth of the pycnidium

Some internal structures

Microfungi on Land Plants - Puccinia on Silene dioica

Red Campion leaves caught my eye on Friday, with this lovely Puccinia arenariae finding a home on a couple of leaves

Mychorrrrrhyiza

Sure I must have posted this before but I love this mycorrhiza page which lists fungi by host (or vice versa?)

http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Plants/Trees/Trees/Picea.abies_Amanitaceae_Mycorrhizae.html

Cylindrobasidium laeve, Calais Muir Wood, 14/11/02015

A fairly large patch on two recumbent and decorticated deciduous trunks in Calais Muir Wood, this nice fresh material performed well under the lens. The cylindrical basidia did jump out as being of note with their long form contrasting with fairly short sterigmata. Subulate cystidia were easily found though not superabundant. The spores too are quite characteristic.

Rush Disco

Curiously when you google Rush Disco all you get are matches to the Canadian rock band. So here are some images of Rush Disco Lachnum apalum and Rush's classic tune Tom Sawyer.

Lachum apalum (Dasyscyphus apalus):

Rush, Tom Sawyer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrhnhXHVSQg

Snowy Disco

Who doesn't love a disco? Lachnum virgineum from Mossmorran

 

and under the lens ...

note the blue inoperculate ascus tips in Melzer's

and septate, granular hairs

Trooping of the colour ...

... as long as the colour is brown

Hyphodontia alutaria, Calais Muir Wood, 10/11/2015

Hyphodontia in CNE is a "broad church" with many of those species now being scattered to the four winds, or more than four genera. Bernicchia still has a Hyphodontia s.l. key in the start of the genus section which can divert you to Kneiffiella etc. but when there are septate, capitate cystidia and lagenocystidia you are still in Hyphodontia sensu strictu territory. H.alutaria is a smooth one with plentiful lagenocystidia so feels relatively straightforward to key out. The second picture here shows how generous it can be in terms of displaying its features!