MYRTACEAE. Eucalyptus sp.: New South Wales, Beecroft.

Hymenophore annual, membranous, loosely attached, effused forming irregular areas to 5 x 3 cm; hymenial surface ferruginous, sepia, or chocolate, velutinate, tardily creviced, sometimes granulose; margin thinning out, concolorous, fibrillose. Context ferruginous, to 250 µm thick, basal layer narrow, of mainly repent hyphae; intermediate layer of mainly erect hyphae corymbose beneath the hymenial layer; generative hyphae 4-5 µm diameter in basal hyphae, to 7 µm and slightly inflated in hyphae of the intermediate layer, walls 0.2 µm thick, pallid ferruginous, with clamp connections. Septocystidia scattered or in irregular fascicles, some projecting to 60 µm, cylindrical with rounded, slightly inflated apices, septate, 75-180 x 8-12 µm, walls ferruginous, 0.5 µm thick. Hymenial layer to 130 µm deep, a close palisade of basidia, paraphyses, and septocystidia. Basidia clavate, 28-40 x 7-9 µm, bearing 4 spores; sterigmata arcuate, slender, to 8 µm long. Paraphyses clavate, 18-25 x 5-6 µm, arranged in clusters. Spores irregularly subglobose, or oblong, 9-12 x 8-12 µm, walls strongly sinuate, coarsely sparsely echinulate, fuscous, 0.5 µm thick, spines to 2.5 µm long.

DISTRIBUTION: Europe, North America, Australia.

HABITAT: Decayed bark and decorticated wood.

Identified readily by the conspicuous septocystidia, large spores with sinuate and coarsely spined walls, and velutinate, often granulose surface of the dark hymenial layer. Septocystidia are cylindrical with slightly rounded and inflated apices, transversely septate with, usually, clamp connections at septa, may project to 60 µm, and are either solitary and scattered or arranged in irregular clusters.

TYPE LOCALITY: Finland.