REPRESENTATIVE SPECIMENS EXAMINED: NORTHLAND: Hokianga Country, Waipoua State Forest, vic. Te Matua Ngahere giant kauri, on decaying dicotyledonous leaves, Petersen, 23 Jun. 1981 (PDD 41979). AUCKLAND: Waitemata City, Titirangi, Titirangi Beach Reserve, on decaying leaves of Pseudopanax crassifolius (A. Cunn.) C. Koch, Samuels et al., 12 Aug. 1981 (PDD 45737). WESTLAND: Westland National Park, vic. Fox Glacier, road to Gillespies Beach, on indet. leaf, Samuels (82-47) et al., 9 May 1982 (PDD 44284).

Stromata solitary and scattered, unbranched, 310 cm long filiform, < 0.5 mm diam., at first conidiogenous; perithecia intercalary, solitary or clustered, elevations distinct, (300-)500-700 µm diam., each perithecium opening through a minute papilla. Surface dark brown to black, wrinkled, continuous with surface of axis, glabrous. Asci 165-170 µm total length x (5.5-)6.0-8.0(-10.0) µm, sporiferous portion (85-)90-116(-135) µm, cylindrical; apical ring J+, wedge-shaped, 3 µm high x 2.5-3.0 µm wide; asci 8-spored, ascospores uniseriate with overlapping ends. Ascospores (12-)13-16(-21) x 5-7(-8) µm, inequilateral with one flat to concave side and one round side, elliptic in top view; transparent brown, slit full length or slightly less than full length, parallel to long axis of ascospore. Conidiophores form in vivo along the entire length of the filiform stroma. Conidiophores forming a compact palisade; conidiogenous cells cylindrical, 15 µm long x 2-3 µm wide, hyaline, smooth; conidiogenous loci terminal, with refractive, frill-like scars c. 0.5 µm diam. remaining after conidial dehiscence. Conidia (3.0-)3.8-4.8(-5.0) x (1.5-)1.7-2.0(-2.3) µm, ellipsoidal with a truncate, refractive or non-refractive base, hyaline, smooth.
CHARACTERISTICS IN CULTURE: Colonies grown 1 week on OA at 18-20°C, 12 h darkness/ 12 h near ultraviolet + cool white fluorescent light 5 cm diam., flat and nearly invisible with scant aerial mycelium but with scattered, salmon stromaatc fundaments beginning to form. Stromata forming abundantly throughout the colony within 2 weeks, eventually attaining 5 cm x 0.5 mm diam., filiform, unbranched, acute, black, remaining sterile.

DISTRIBUTION: (numbers of specimens examined in parentheses). NORTH ISLAND: Northland (6), Auckland (4), Taranaki (1). SOUTH ISLAND: Nelson (1), Westland (1).

HABITAT: On decaying leaves of dicotyledonous trees; less often on other herbaceous debris.

Our concept of X. cf. filiformis is similar to that of Saccardo (1882) and most other authors. The original application of the name is uncertain and confusing, as Dennis (1958) has made clear. Nonetheless, there appear to be numerous separate taxa that need to be considered on a worldwide basis before the status of X. cf. filiformis and several other names can be fully understood.
New Zealand collections of X. cf. filiformis are morphologically identical to a Daldini specimen from Switzerland (PDD 38759; LO) and morphologically and culturally identical to some collections from Japan (PDD 44499. 44512). Unfortunately, the cultures derived from New Zealand collections of this species expired before we were able to photograph them. The culture illustrated in Fig. 16 G was derived from one of the Japanese collections. A morphologically similar fungus from a fern rachis in Japan (PDD 44510) had ascospores 25-26 x 7-9 µm, but we were unable to culture it.
The following species (Xylaria taxonomic species 1 and 2) represent taxa that are distinct from the present concept of X. cf. filiformis but we hesitate to name them given the existing uncertainty in application of the name X. filiformis.