Worldwide Lachnellula key

HERE

Bertia moriformis, Cullaloe LNR, Fife

Hysterium angustatum, Dalgety Bay, Donibristle Wood, 11/02/2018

Hysterium angustatum
Dalgety Bay, Donibristle Wood
NT1683
11/02/2018
on Horse Chestnut

Ciliolarina laricina, Calais Muir Wood, 21/12/2016

A nice little fuzzy disco on Japanese Larch, listed in Ellis and Ellis under Pine but cross-referenced in the Larch section. Calais Muir wood offers trees I don't encounter much elsewhere so it's always an opportunity to see something different

Hymenoscyphus vitellinus at Cullaloe, 31/07/2016

Found on the rotting herbaceous stems beside a small channel at the north of the reserve

Spore in KOH

A non-discharged ascus

Spore in Melzers

Blued ascus pores

Keying out in Dennis

Propolis farinosa at Cullaloe LNR

This lovely species fills up holes in decorticating bark. In this case on Salix, though in Ellis & Ellis it can be found in the pluriverous fungi section

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.}

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.

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

Bryoparasitic Pezizales

A cracking site on Pezizas that love the bryophytes ...

http://www.octospora.de/


And to fill out the linka bit - a Fench ascomycete site ...

 AscoFrance

Downtown Peziza

I don't really have a good way of dealing with ascomycetes, but this fantastic cup on the Bank of Scotland building in Dunfermline deserves a spot. I am mre or less assuming it is Peziza cerea, or Cellar Cup, despite making no micro investigations whatsoever.

Melzer's versus Lugol's

Intrigued by the persistence of lichenologists to prefer Lugol's over Melzer's , I uncovered the following references:

http://www.namyco.org/docs/Melzer__Lugo.pdf

http://www.gbif-mycology.de/HostedSites/Baral/IodineReaction.htm

It seems that while Melzer's can give better reactions in the right conditions it also can mask some reactions because of one ingredient of its cocktail (I'm looking at you, chloral hydrate).

Since I'm a bit hamfisted wen it comes to the chemical reagent I like to throw Melzer's on things, but I may have to refine my inspection techniques if I'm going to mess around with ascos, including lichenised ones.

Hypocrea pulvinata - Ochre Cushion

Chopped from the top of a Piptoporus betulinus, I thought I wouldn't get far with this asco, but it seems like a "weel-kent face". It even has an English name - Ochre Cushion. Maybe the only Asco you'll ever see on here. Unless I find another Scarlet Elfcup that is.