Summary: Features include 1) resupinate growth on conifer wood, 2) a soft, white, membranous-pelliculose fruitbody, the margin not especially differentiated, 3) spores that are elongated, smooth, and inamyloid, 4) 4-spored basidia, 5) cystidia that are cylindric or narrowly obclavate, and 6) a subiculum of thin hyphae with clamp connections, the walls usually heavily encrusted with crystals.
Microscopic: SPORES 3-4 x 1.5-2 microns, smooth, inamyloid, thin-walled; BASIDIA 4-spored, 6-8 x 3-4 microns, cylindric to subclavate, developed from SUBHYMENIAL HYPHAE in cymose clusters through progressive proliferation from clamp connections, sterigmata upright, slender, slightly arcuate; CYSTIDIA 25-45 x 2.5-3.5 microns, extending two thirds of their length beyond the hymenium, cylindric or narrowly obclavate, somewhat flexuous [wavy], thin-walled, unencrusted; SUBICULUM made up of hyphae 1-2 microns wide, fine, horizontal or irregularly interwoven, thin-walled, with clamp connections, walls usually heavily encrusted with crystals, (Jackson)
Notes: Athelia munda has been found in BC, AZ, CA, CO, NJ, and WY, (Ginns).
Habitat and Range
Habitat
on bark; rotting stump; Abies lasiocarpa (Subalpine Fir), Abies magnifica (California Red Fir), Picea engelmannii (Engelmann Spruce), Tsuga mertensiana (Mountain Hemlock); associated with a white rot, (Ginns), decaying wood inside rotting stump; inside crevices of fallen coniferous log, (Jackson)