Photos / Sounds

Observer

kallampero

Date

December 2, 2023

Description

a very attractive and extensive collection of macrocharacters in this as of yet undetermined Xylaria sp.:

-a longitudinally-fissured white ectostroma
-orange-brownish-reddish ostioles (??)
-the irridescent fuzz at the base (seen once before on an undescribed sp. found in Oregon)
-a bunch of short, eyelash-like, and also somewhat irridescent/reflective hairs adorning the whole length of the fertile surface

...on a Xylaria which doesn't exceed an inch in overall height.

curioser and curioser. microscopy forthcoming.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

kallampero

Date

July 7, 2023

Description

This collection is the culmination of a nearly 10-year, on and off search for this taxon. Upon bringing it to the attention of a handful of Facebook groups in the form of a "wanted poster" back in September of 2022, the stalwart membership of the Gulf States Mycological Society came up with no less than three collections in rapid succession, made by three of its board members: Logan Wiedenfeld (President), Scott Johnson (Vice President), and Kerri McCabe. Scott would, in the summer of 2023, lead me to the very spot where this "Mary Poppins" collection you see before you -- "practically perfect in every way" -- was made. The GSMS' previous observations of the sp. can be found at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=559277, with accompanying commentary on the GSMS members Facebook group.

Microscopy, molecular data, and before too long a proper publication on this sp., are all forthcoming. Stay tuned...

Photos / Sounds

Observer

kallampero

Date

February 28, 2024

Description

I first collected this on Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016 (
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7004049) having no idea even what phylum to place it in, guessing (incorrectly) that it could be a Septobasidium, or a corticioid/crust, or something else entirely.

Jacob Kalichman (@pulk) and I made a second collection of the same fungus on the same substrate two years later along a trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112054261). This time we took it to the microscope, where a scalp section revealed a palisade of erect, parallel, clavate structures that turned a beautiful deep royal blue in the presence of KOH, with yellowish-brown, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid propagules forming along the upper portions of the structures (see micrographs in first iNat link).

Dr. Brandon Matheny was kind enough to sequence that second collection for us. At the time, the nearest BLAST match (83% per. ident.) to that sequence was an accession labelled Hypoxylon fuscum, followed by several lower percentage matches in the Hypoxylaceae. Our fungus was therefore probably an anamorph belonging to that family, making structures we'd observed conidiophores with their corresponding conidia. When brought to the attention of Dr. Roo Vandegrift (@werdnus), he proposed calling this sp. Virgariella; an anamorph known to occur across a wide range of xylariaceous taxa, including the Hypoxylon fuscum group. A more precise, teleomorphic name might follow with a more solid match in GenBank or, ideally, by collecting and studying the teleomorph, should it ever be found.

Over the next four years, what started as a minor curiosity of mine from a horticultural trail in downtown Knoxville, became a widely recognized fungal feature all throughout the southern Appalachian region, resulting in 44 observations from 13 individual observers (at the time of writing). Unfortunately, every single one of them was missing a teleomorph.

Last December, at the Gulf States Mycological Society Winter Foray, more anamorphic collections of this unidentified hypoxyloid came in. One of the club's members vowed to keep an eye out for any teleomorphic-looking growths on the abundant Chinese privet that occurs near his home and work (as a prolifically invasive tree sp., it's not difficult to find).

On March 1st, 2024, said member and their partner came over for dinner. With them they brought a few branches of Chinese privet with a "surprise" on them for me to examine. Lo and behold, they had found the elusive teleomorph, shown here.*

KOH extractable pigments reddish-orange/ochraceous, latently becoming somewhat vinaceous.
Spore micrographs show remnants of perispore dehiscence (in 10% KOH), a nearly spore-length and relatively straight germ slit, and two guttules in many/most of the spores. Dimensions are as follows:

(10.9) 11.6 - 13.7 (14.2) × (5.1) 5.2 - 5.8 (6.3) µm
Q = (2) 2.1 - 2.4 (2.8) ; N = 20
Me = 12.5 × 5.6 µm ; Qe = 2.3

.* = Macro shots are placeholders, better images forthcoming following the resolution of some particularly painful camera issues.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

kallampero

Date

June 29, 2016

Description

compare with Observation 228734

Photos / Sounds

What

Inky Caps (Genus Coprinus)

Observer

seangolden

Date

February 18, 2024 10:46 AM CST

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