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Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Chris Yeates,
26-08-2012 17:34
Bonjour tousI recently collected this discomycete which was producing numerous apothecia on the petioles and veins of last year's leaves of Aesculus hippocastanum.
Previous Yorkshire records from the same substratum have been assigned to Hymenoscyphus albidus, or (mostly, and including previous records of mine) to H. caudatus (probably following Ellis and Ellis I)?.
However, now having the luxury of Zotto's DVD I note he has a "Hymenoscyphus aesculi" - = Lanzia aesculi (Velen.) Svrcek; I would welcome any comments/suggestions, also if anyone has access to Svrcek's paper in Sb. nár. Mus. Praze 40B(3-4): 131 (1985)? I would be exceedingly grateful. Details of the fungus here; apothecia with distinctive blackened stem bases, asci IKI blue, ascospores (15.4) 17.3-19.5 x 3.8-3.9 (4.4)µm - many of the spores - immature? - with only one or two very large oil globules (as can be seen in the second to last photo):
amitiés
Chris
Hans-Otto Baral,
26-08-2012 17:51
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Hi Chris
that's fine! Yes, this is H. aesculi, a close relative of H. albidus. What you could do is to look for the croziers (they should be absent), also living free spores woudl be welcome (they surely develop and are ejected in a water squash mount if you have the fungus still fresh). The single elongate drop is characteristic of dead spores, also your middle spore shows a basal elongate oil drop and certainly is not alive. The spores of H. aesculi often have a strange inflation in the middle of the spore, but must not.
If you succeed to make a median section with a razor blade I would be curious for the medulla which I once saw not as intricata but as upwards oriented prismatica.
Old apothecia, especially when dry, tend to get dark grey-olive-brown to almost black, a feature never seen in H. (pseudo)albidus.
And please let me know the collection data, I would like to cite your specimen in our paper. Certainly this fungus can be found under the name H. albidus and also H. caudatus in British and other herbaria.
Zotto
that's fine! Yes, this is H. aesculi, a close relative of H. albidus. What you could do is to look for the croziers (they should be absent), also living free spores woudl be welcome (they surely develop and are ejected in a water squash mount if you have the fungus still fresh). The single elongate drop is characteristic of dead spores, also your middle spore shows a basal elongate oil drop and certainly is not alive. The spores of H. aesculi often have a strange inflation in the middle of the spore, but must not.
If you succeed to make a median section with a razor blade I would be curious for the medulla which I once saw not as intricata but as upwards oriented prismatica.
Old apothecia, especially when dry, tend to get dark grey-olive-brown to almost black, a feature never seen in H. (pseudo)albidus.
And please let me know the collection data, I would like to cite your specimen in our paper. Certainly this fungus can be found under the name H. albidus and also H. caudatus in British and other herbaria.
Zotto
Martin Bemmann,
26-08-2012 20:24
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
"I would welcome any comments/suggestions, also if anyone has access to Svr?ek?'s paper in Sb. nár. Mus. Praze 40B(3-4): 131 (1985)?"
Hi Chris,
not very much to learn there. He announced a further discussion of this fungus that possibly was not published.
Otherwise I can't add anything to Zotto's remarks. Except asking you if you possibly excluded "strange" looking spores from your documentation (those mentioned by Zotto as beeing "inflated") considering them as "dead" ones.
Best regards,
Martin
Hi Chris,
not very much to learn there. He announced a further discussion of this fungus that possibly was not published.
Otherwise I can't add anything to Zotto's remarks. Except asking you if you possibly excluded "strange" looking spores from your documentation (those mentioned by Zotto as beeing "inflated") considering them as "dead" ones.
Best regards,
Martin
Hans-Otto Baral,
26-08-2012 20:44
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
The false reference as "Svrcek (1986)" in fact concerns his 1989 paper "New or less known discos 19. There H. aesculi is described in detail (as Lanzia aesculi.
Zotto
Zotto
Chris Yeates,
26-08-2012 21:25
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
@ Zotto - many thanks for the prompt reply, I shall investigate further; luckily the site where I found the fungus is within walking distance of my home, so I shall be able to get more material should I need it; in your opinion is the best way to refer to it as "Hymenoscyphus aesculi nom. prov."?
@ Martin - there were very few good mature spores, so I am keeping this collection damp for a couple of days in the hope they may develop, failing which I shall collect more in a week or so; and I shall certainly keep an eye out for the "inflated" spores
best wishes
Chris
@ Martin - there were very few good mature spores, so I am keeping this collection damp for a couple of days in the hope they may develop, failing which I shall collect more in a week or so; and I shall certainly keep an eye out for the "inflated" spores
best wishes
Chris
Hans-Otto Baral,
26-08-2012 21:39
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
The new combination will hopefully be published soon :-)
Zotto
Zotto
Chris Yeates,
29-08-2012 23:12
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Here are some more images; three apothecia had produced very few living spores and then suddenly when I checked another there were ascospores everywhere! Seeing them in plenty I was reminded by their shape of seals hauled out on to a breeding beach - "ascospores pinnipediform" ;)
so here are images of the spores (and yes I did see some of the strange ones swollen in the middle also the occasional elongate one (arrowed), the stem cells from darkened base through to regular prismatica in the middle of the stem; also noted was the absence of croziers; the apothecia have not, however darkened particularly on drying - perhaps this develops over time . . .
collection details are:
on Aesculus hippocastanum petioles and leaf-veins
Edgerton area, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
53°39'22.85"N 1°48'23.26"W
so here are images of the spores (and yes I did see some of the strange ones swollen in the middle also the occasional elongate one (arrowed), the stem cells from darkened base through to regular prismatica in the middle of the stem; also noted was the absence of croziers; the apothecia have not, however darkened particularly on drying - perhaps this develops over time . . .
collection details are:
on Aesculus hippocastanum petioles and leaf-veins
Edgerton area, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
53°39'22.85"N 1°48'23.26"W
leg. C.S.V.Yeates; 24th August 2012
Hb. CSVY/F/2194
regards
Chris
PS - the attached KMZ file will indicate the find spot when opened in Google Earth
Hymenoscyphus-aesculi-0001.kmz
Hans-Otto Baral,
29-08-2012 23:43
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Hi Chris
this is exactly the spore shape I expected! Wonderful. These elongate ones are abnormal. But I did not understand what you compared with them.
Dark apothecia possibly only appear if you let them get senescent and then dry.
I only miss a section of the receptacle showing the ?medulla. I assume you will find a text. intricata with intercellular space.
Zotto
this is exactly the spore shape I expected! Wonderful. These elongate ones are abnormal. But I did not understand what you compared with them.
Dark apothecia possibly only appear if you let them get senescent and then dry.
I only miss a section of the receptacle showing the ?medulla. I assume you will find a text. intricata with intercellular space.
Zotto
Chris Yeates,
05-09-2012 21:19
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Today I had chance to revisit the collection site and obtained more fresh material so that I could answer Zotto's last question. Here are two photographs of sections of the medulla, which seem to accord well with his "text. intricata with intercellular space?". They show the medulla with the continuation of the textura prismatica of the stem on the left and (just visible) the bases of the asci at top right (stained with ammoniacal congo red).
Cordialement
Chris
Cordialement
Chris
Hans-Otto Baral,
05-09-2012 22:43
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Thanks a lot, Chris! yes, it's loose intricata, and it does not seem to differ from H. albidus/pseudoalbidus in this respect. I wasnÄt sure about that.
Zotto
Zotto
Viktorie Halasu,
03-09-2020 09:21
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Dear Chris,
about that slender and elongated spore - could it perhaps belong to Cyathicula fraxinicola (contamination from another apothecium)?
Viktorie
about that slender and elongated spore - could it perhaps belong to Cyathicula fraxinicola (contamination from another apothecium)?
Viktorie
Hans-Otto Baral,
03-09-2020 09:24
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Hi Viktorie
if you refer to the first pics of this thread, the spores are distinctly scutuloid with a high lipid content, so they cannot be C. fraxinicola.
Zotto
Viktorie Halasu,
03-09-2020 09:26
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Dear Zotto,
yes, this thread, the single different spore in 3rd photo from 29-08-2012: http://ascofrance.fr/uploads/forum/b08c3bac8665564ed6373f5712f178e7b8fc059f.jpg
Viktorie
yes, this thread, the single different spore in 3rd photo from 29-08-2012: http://ascofrance.fr/uploads/forum/b08c3bac8665564ed6373f5712f178e7b8fc059f.jpg
Viktorie
Hans-Otto Baral,
03-09-2020 09:29
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Ah, but the guttules inside speak against this. H. aesculi has rather variable spores, and in some cases of overmaturity you can find all aberrant forms.
Chris Yeates,
03-09-2020 15:56
Re : Hymenoscyphus sp. on Aesculus
Zotto is correct, in my latest collection there was a range of spore shapes although most were typical. I tried to include only the typical ones but even so there are some more elongate ones - see the 4th image in http://www.ascofrance.com/search_forum/64834
Chris