Summary:
Features include a small, saucer-shaped fruitbody with a white spore-bearing upper surface dotted with violet protruding tips of asci, white exterior covered with fine white granules especially at the margin, growth on dung, and microscopic characters including spores that become violet with lighter longitudinal anastomosing striae.
Ascobolus sacchariferus is found at least in BC, WA, CA, (Larsen), and Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, (Hansen), and was examined from the Netherlands (Brummelen).
Upper surface:
0.07-0.17cm across, 0.05-0.08cm high, at first closed and spherical, then opening at top and hemispheric, finally high saucer-shape; disc concave then flat, white, dotted with the violet protruding tips of asci; margin narrow, clearly developed, with fine white granules, (Brummelen)
Underside:
white, finally darkened by the adhering spores; covered regularly with fine white granules especially at margin, (Brummelen)
Stem:
none (Brummelen)
Microscopic:
spores 16-20 x 9-10 microns, elliptic, at first colorless then violet, ornamented with lighter "longitudinal, anastomosing striae with strongly swelling (up to 19 x15 microns), unilateral, gelatinous cap", at first uniseriate, finally biseriate; asci 8-spored, 190-226 x 16-24 microns, cylindric-clavate, with slightly curved stem, rounded at top, when young wall amyloid; paraphyses 1.5-2.5 microns thick, cylindric, simple or branched, septate, forked, swollen or irregular in upper part, 2.5-7 microns wide at tip, colorless, embedded in somewhat granular colorless mucus, (Brummelen)
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