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Dennis, R.W.G. 1958: Critical notes on some Australian Helotiales and Ostropales. Kew Bulletin 13(2): 321-358.

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Dennis, R.W.G. 1958: Critical notes on some Australian Helotiales and Ostropales. Kew Bulletin 13(2): 321-358.
Kew Bulletin
Article

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Erinella novae-zelandiae Massee 1896
Erinella novae-zelandiae Massee (1896)
Perrotia lutea (W. Phillips) Dennis 1958

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Chlorociboria versiformis var. olivacea (Rodway) Dennis 1958
Apothecia solitary or in small clusters, superficial; disc convex or repand, olive-green, drying black, up to 5 mm. diameter; receptacle obconical with a short, stout, longitudinally furrowed base, pruinose throughout with minute, downy, blackish-brown hairs. Flesh composed of tightly woven hyphae, light brown in section, subhymenium thin, dark brown; excipulum dark brown, that of the stalk composed of undulating short-celled hyphae, approximately at right angles to the surface, that on the under side of the receptacle appearing pseudoparenchymatous in section, with angular, thin-walled, brown cells 10-15um across, that on the flanks of the hymenium composed of brown, parallel, slender hyphae, with clavate terminal cells. Excipular hairs short, thin-walled, brown, with rounded and swollen tips about 10um across. Asci narrowly clavate-cylindric, 115 x 6um, 8-spored, pore blued by Melzer's reagent; ascospores uniseriate, elliptic-cylindric or slightly allantoid, 10-12 x 2.5-3.5um; paraphyses cylindrical, slightly enlarged to 3um at the tip. On dead wood, not stained green.
Coryne tasmanica (Rodway) Dennis 1958
TASMANIA: near Fern Tree, May 1912, L. Rodway, Typus in Herb. Tasmanian Museum.
Apothecia gregarious, superficial, disc flat or convex, black, 1-5 mm. diameter; receptacle saucer-shaped, sessile on a broad base, smooth, black, margin often undulating. Flesh composed of closely packed hyaline hyphae, 4-5µ wide, with thick, glassy, subgelatinised walls, passing at the margin into a narrow belt of thinwalled parallel hyphae. Excipulum of angular isodiametric cells, those of the inner zone thinwalled, those of the outer layers about 5µ diameter and thick-walled, sheathed towards the base of the receptacle by a zone of very slender hyphae, about 1 µ wide, closely packed in a gelatinous matrix. Asci narrowly cylindric-clavate, 170 x 10-12µ, 8-spored, with massive apical ring stained blue by Melzer's reagent; ascospores uniseriate, sometimes becoming biseriate at the tip of the ascus, elliptic-fusiform, 12-17 x 5 µ hyaline with oily contents, becoming 1-3-septate; paraphyses very slender, abruptly enlarged above into subglobose tips 3-4µ across, not cemented into an epithecium. On dead wood.
There are odd discrepancies in Rodway's two published descriptions of this species. In the original diagnosis the apothecia are black and the spores 'light purple when mature'. In his revised description of 1925 the apothecia are purple and the spores hyaline. The type packet bears a pencil note under the sketch of a spore 'Smooth, coat thick, light purple' followed by the comment in ink 'Subsequent exam. of dry material shows spores appear hyaline or slightly tinted'. The dried material now yields a purplish-brown stain in ammonia and any colour seen in the fresh spores was probably in the sap rather than in the spore wall. Cenangella Sacc. is currently regarded as a synonym of Dermea Fr. but C. tasmanica does not appear to be a typical Dermea. The apothecia would be very large for that genus, they are not obviously erumpent but superficial on very rotten decorticated wood and there is no associated conidial state. The flesh seems to have been rather less gelatinous than in the well known C. sarcoides of Europe, but in all other features the two species are very alike, especially if C. tasmanica was purple when fresh.
Dasyscyphus glabrescens (Cooke & W. Phillips) Sacc. 1889
Apothecia scattered, superficial; disc concave, up to 1 mm. diameter; receptacle cupshaped, soft, white, drying cream coloured, clothed with fine, downy, white hairs; stalk slender, cylindrical, downy, concolorous. Hairs cylindrical, often undulating, 1-2-septate, with thin, hyaline, granulate walls, up to 60 x 4 µ, their tips vary from slightly enlarged to more often slightly tapering, sometimes tipped by coarser granules. Asci cylindric-clavate, about 80 x 9 µ, 8-spored, pore blued by Melzer's reagent; ascospores cylindric-fusiform, nonseptate, 13-18 x 3 µ. Paraphyses narrowly cylindrical, 1.5-2 µ, wide, with pointed tips, not longer than the asci. On bark.
VICTORIA: Melbourne, on ?Rhipogonum (Liliaceae) , No. 379 (Typus).
Dasyscyphus hyalopus (Cooke & Massee) Dennis 1958
New Zealand: on dead Phormium, leg. T. Kirk, 340 (Typus).
Apothecia scattered, superficial ; disc concave, about 0.5 mm. diameter; receptacle cup-shaped, soft and delicate, white, clothed with short white hairs; stipe slender, cylindrical, hairy, white or drying buff towards the base. Hairs cylindrical, 80-100 x 3-4 µ, tips slightly swollen to 4-6 µ and rounded, walls thin, hyaline, granulate, septa usually 3. Asci cylindric-clavate, 95 - 100 x 9-10 µ, 8-spored, pore blued by Melzer's reagent; ascospores parallel, narrowly cylindrical, curved or undulating, ends obtuse, ultimately multi-septate, 39-46 x 2 µ. Paraphyses lanceolate, 3 µ wide.
This species closely resembles D. dussii Dennis, on twigs in Guadeloupe, but in the latter the whole fungus is light yellow and the terminal cell of each hair is filled with yellow oil. Fresh collections or good field notes on fresh apothecia are desirable for comparison with the common D. apalus (Berk. & Br.) Dennis which, however, typically lacks the swollen tips to the hairs and is commonly supposed to be confined to Juncus.
Helotium brevisporium Cooke & W. Phillips 1879

Helotium brevisporum Cooke & Phillips in Grevillea 8, 63 (Dec. 1879).

Apothecia scattered, superficial, subsessile; disc flat, up to 3 mm. across, ochraceous, with a low obtuse margin; receptacle saucer-shaped, paler than the disc, smooth, with a short stout stalk, largely immersed in the substrate. Excipulum of parallel hyphae lying at a moderate angle to the surface, 4-5 µ wide, with rather thick hyaline walls; flesh of loosely woven hyaline hyphae, stained brown in the base of the stalk only. Asci cylindric-clavate, about 75 x 6 µ, 8-spored, pore blued by Melzer's reagent; ascospores uniseriate, elliptical, 8-12 x 3-4 µ, becoming 1-septate. Paraphyses cylindrical, 2 µ wide. On decorticated wood.

NEW ZEALAND: Waitaki, S. Berggren 30b (Typus). Fig. 17.

Helotium pezizoideum Cooke & W. Phillips 1891

Helotium pezizoideum Cooke @ Phillips in Grevillea 19, 72 (March 1891).

Apothecia scattered, superficial; disc slightly concave, ochraceous, up to 2 mm. across; receptacle slightly paler, shallow cupshaped, smooth, with a short, stout stalk, usually strigose with white hairs towards the base. Excipulum of slightly undulating parallel hyphae, 5-6 µm wide, lying at a moderate angle to the surface. Asci cylindric-clavate, 70-90 x 6-7 µm, 8-spored, the pore only faintly blued by Melzer's reagent; ascospores biseriate, cylindric-clavate, tapering below, straight or slightly curved, 10-14 x 2.5-3 µm. Paraphyses cylindrical, not enlarged at the tips, 2 µm thick, with granular contents. On decorticated wood.

NEW ZEALAND: Waitaki (Typus). Fig. 16.
QUEENSLAND: unlocalised, Langdon 1460, 21.3.1954.

This is clearly a member of the H. calyculus-H. conscripturn series but is probably worth maintaining as a distinct species because of its narrower ascospores and rather shorter asci.

Sorokina lignicola (Rodway) Dennis 1958

Sorokina lignicola (Rodway) Dennis, comb. nov.
Rhizina lignicola Rodway in Pap. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania 1924, 117 (1925).

Apothecia solitary or gregarious, superficial; disc convex, then flattened with recurved margin, black, up to 2.5 cm. diameter; receptacle thin, pruinose, concolorous, sessile. Flesh about 0.5 mm. thick, composed of light brown, loosely woven, hyphae 3-4 µm wide; excipulum thin, very dark brown, with thinwalled, subglobose cells, I0-15 µm diameter, becoming scurfy ; asci cylindric-clavate, 80-90 x 5-6 µm, 8-spored, apex not blued by Melzer's reagent ; ascospores uniseriate or biseriate above, elliptical, I -septate, hyaline, then light brown, often appearing faintly longitudinally striate with about 4 striae visible at one time; paraphyses slender, I µm. thick, tips agglutinated by a brown matrix. On rotten wood.

TASMANIA West coast, December 1923, Typus in Herb. Tasmanian Museum.

This is doubtfully distinct from S. microspora (Berk.) Sacc., from Venezuela, which, however, has slightly smaller ascospores, 6-7 x 2.5-3p with less distinct striae. Any resemblance of either fungus to a Rhizina is, of course, purely superficial.

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3 August 2025
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