Blechnum filiforme (A. Cunn.) Ettingsh. Wellington: Lake Papaetonga, 50ft., September, 1953, G.H.C. Brachyglottis repanda Forst. Auckland: Cascade Kauri Park, Waitakeres. 650ft., March, 1950, J.M. Dingley; Piha, September, 1953, J.M. Dingley. Cyathea dealbata (Forst. f.) Swartz. Auckland: Swanson, Waitakeres, October, 1946, J.M. Dingley; Cascade Kauri Park, Waitakeres, 600ft., March, 1950, J.M. Dingley. Nothopanax arboreum (Forst, f.) Seem. Auckland: Glen Esk Valley, Piha, May, 1951, J.M. Dingley, type collection, P.D.D. herbarium, No. 11240. Olea lanceolata Hook. f. Auckland: Mountain Road, Henderson, 1,000ft., September, 1953. J.M. Dingley.

Hymenophore annual, adnate, chalky, effused, forming irregular linear areas to 20 x 4 cm.; surface dingy white, then pallid cream, even, pruinose, not creviced; margin thinning out, white, even, membranous. Context white, chalky, 30-100 µ thick, composed of a few repent hyphae at the base and an intermediate layer of upright hyphae embedded in masses of crystals especially near the base; generative hyphae 3-4 µ diameter, wall 0.2 µ thick, naked, septate, branched, without clamp connections. Hymenial layer to 40 µ deep, of basidia, paraphyses and gloeocystidia. Basidia subclavate, 24-35 x 5-6 µ, 4-spored; sterigmata slender, to 6 µ long. Paraphyses subclavate or subcylindrical, appreciably smaller than the basidia. Gloeocystidia arising in the context, scarcely or not projecting, cylindrical, broadly fusiform or subclavate, apices rounded or bluntly acuminate; 25-50 x 8-10 µ, wall 0.5-1 µ thick. Spores broadly elliptical, some oval, 5-6.5 x 3.5-4.5 µ, wall smooth, hyaline, 0.2 µ thick.

DISTRIBUTION. New Zealand.

HABITAT. Effused on bark of dead branches and stems and stipes of tree ferns.

Hymenophorum cretaceum, adnatum, effusum; superficie fusco-alba, pruinosa, non rimosa. Hyphae contextus in crystallis sitae, afibulatae, 3-4 µ diam., nudae. Basidia 24-36 x 5-6 µ, 4 sporis. Gloeocystidia cylindricalia, late fusiforma vel subclavata, 25-50 x 8-10 µ. Sporae late ellipticae, aliquot ovatae, 5-6.5 x 3.5-4.5 µ, laeves, hyalinae.

Separated from C. afibidatum which is also without clamp connections, by the short, broad gloeocystidia, large basidia and masses of crystals. The last are of peculiar construction, as the illustration shows. Because of their abundance plants appear chalky in section.
One collection from Cyathea dealbata possesses a thin context with consequent shorter gloeocystidia, spores are smaller (4.5-5 x 3-3.5 µ) and many subglobose. Specimens from Blechnum filiforme are without crystals but agree in micro-features with the type.

Auckland: Glen Esk Valley, Piha, May, 1951, J.M. Dingley, type collection, P.D.D. herbarium, No. 11240.

Basidiome soft membranaceous. Basidia urniform to subclavate, 18-30 x 4-5 um, with a basal swelling up to 6 µm wide; there are 2-4 sterigmata. Spores hyaline, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, (4.5-)5-5.5 X 3.5-4.2 µm, warted, amyloid. The warts dissolve in 4% KOH.

The species is Gloeocystidiellum peroxydatum (Rick) Stalpers & Hjortst.; it is closely related to G. lacticolor (Byes.) Stalpers & Hjortst. and Boidinia furfuracea (Byes.) Stalpers & Hjortst. (Hjortstam & Stalpers 1982). Boidin (1966) compared it with G. heimii Boidin f. citri Boidin and found only minor differences. Judging from Boidin's description, f. citri differed more from the type of G. heimii than from G. crystallitectum. The cultural characters - the species has verticillate clamps, which are unique in Gloeocystidiellum - probably prompted Boidin to this classification. The species causes a weak white rot.

Specimens studied. NEW ZEALAND. Auckland: Piha, Glen Esk Valley, 300 m, on Neopanax arboreum, V-1951, PDD 11240 (holotype, PDD); on Letptospermum scoparium, J.M. Dingley, III-1956, PDD 17037 (PDD). Cascade Kauri Park, Waitakere Ranges, 300 m, on Brachyglottis repanda, III-1950, PDD 7911 (PDD); Waitakere Ranges, Anawhata Rd, on N. arboreum, J.M. Dingley, V-1954, PDD 15463 (PDD).

Descriptions and line drawings of this species were provided by Cunningham (1963) and Stalpers (1985). Stalpers (1985) considered Corticium crystallitectum to be conspecific with Boidinia peroxydata, but we find that the two species can be distinguished by basidiospore size. Basidiospores of C. crystallitectum have been described as 5-6.5 x 3.5-4.5 µm (Cunningham, 1963) and (4.5-)5-5.5 x 3.5-4.2 µm (Stalpers, 1985). Our measurements of basidiospores from 4 collections (PDD 7911, 11240-holotype, 15463, 17037) are (5.5-)6-7(-8) x 3.5-5 µm. These measurements are distinctly larger than those of basidiospores from the holotype of B. peroxydata (3.8-4.8 x 2.9-3.3 µm) measured in this study.
While examining Cunningham's collections labelled Corticium crystallitectum in Herb. PDD, we found that specimens on Cyathea (Filicales) represent a discordant element; specimens PDD 7895 and 17106 have clavate basidia and shorter spores than those of B. crystallitecta and appear to belong in Gloeocystidiellum s.s.