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Species Information
Summary: Also listed in Cups category. Features include irregularly disc-shaped, cup-shaped, or lobed fruitbody with margin typically reflexed [turned down] but free from stem, the upper surface brown-gray to gray-brown or dark brown and the lower surface whitish and quickly turning white as it starts to dry out, relatively short infolded fluted stem that is cream to pale yellow-brown, but may be indistinct or absent, growth on wood or on ground, in spring, and elliptic finely warted non-apiculate spores. Harmaja comments on the shape of the apothecium being apparently unique in the genus (for the synonymized Gyromitra recurva), in that the stem is distinct, slender, and +/- smooth, and meets the cup abruptly, and the cup is +/- convex already when young, lacks distinct folds, and has a recurved margin which is loose and far from the stem, (Harmaja(5)). Reports of Gyromitra melaleuca (Bresadola) Donadini from CO and WA are unconfirmed and may represent G. melaleucoides.
G. melaleucoides is found at least in BC, WA, ID, also AB, AK, CO, (Abbott), and also OR, MT, (Larsen).
Cap: 0.9-6.8cm across (up to 11cm across fresh), 0.9-5cm high, irregularly disc-shaped, cup-shaped, or lobed, margin typically reflexed [turned back] but free from stem; spore-bearing upper surface "dark gray brown, brown or dark red brown when dried", smooth to undulate-rugose [wavy-wrinkled], (Abbott), broadly and shallowly bowl-shaped to repand or slightly undulate but not truly strongly lobed; "brown-gray to gray-brown, varying to nearly black when old or partially dried"; surface even when young but often becoming undulate or irregular when old, (Castellano), interior surface of cup light to dark brown (Trudell), interior surface of cup pale gray-brown to dark brown or dark brown, (Beug)
Underside: cream to pale yellow-brown; bald to finely pubescent [downy], (Abbott), more or less ivory to off-white; bald, without prominent ribs, (Castellano), exterior light brown to whitish (Trudell), underside quickly turns white as it starts to dry out, whereas Gyromitra ancilis, Gyromitra leucoxantha, and Gyromitra olympiana tend to retain more color on the underside as they start to dry out, (Beug)
Stem: 1.5-5cm x 0.3-2.6cm, distinctly flaring at top, in lower part equal or widened at base, infolded/fluted, internally with hollow chambers; cream to pale yellow-brown; bald to finely pubescent, (Abbott), sometimes absent to reduced (when old), varying to short-stemmed or indistinctly stemmed, (Castellano)
Microscopic: spores 11.6-14.4 x 8.0-9.4 microns, elliptic to broadly elliptic, especially when immature, rough, warted, colorless, non-apiculate, with 2 droplets or infrequently with 1 droplet, "de Bary bubbles present in a small proportion of mature spores"; asci 205-235 x 11.0-14.6 microns; paraphyses 5.4-9.0 microns wide at tip, terminal cell 53-105 microns long, clavate, enlarged gradually to tip, pale yellow-brown to brown individually, brown in mass, (Abbott), spores 12-14 x 7-10 microns, finely warted; asci J-, (Castellano)
Habitat / Range
single, gregarious, subcespitose, or scattered "on soil, litter, or rotted wood in coniferous or mixed forests", April 11 in BC to July 22 in ID, (Abbott), on or adjacent to well-decayed (brown cubical-rotted) wood in moist coniferous forests, spring, (Castellano)
Similar Species
Discina species [here considered Gyromitra ancilis, G. leucoxantha, G. olympiana] have dingy yellow to red-brown fruitbodies with the underside colored the same or paler, whereas G. melaleucoides has gray-tan to brown-gray or dark brown fruitbody with bald, more or less ivory to off-white underside that lacks prominent ribs (but may have broad folds), (Castellano), Discina species [here considered Gyromitra ancilis, G. leucoxantha, G. olympiana] have at most a rudimentary stem and spores are different, (Trudell), G. melaleucoides "typically has a gray cast, while the other similarly shaped species are yellow-brown, pinkish buff, or red-brown. However, the colors do overlap and are highly variable within each species mentioned. The most reliable macroscopic feature is that the underside of G. melaleucoides [italicized] quickly turns white as it starts to dry out. The other species tend to retain more color on the underside as they start to dry out." (Beug(3)); spores of Gyromitra ancilis, G. olympiana, and G. leucoxantha are larger and may have apiculi at both ends; spores of Gyromitra ancilis, Gyromitra olympiana, Gyromitra leucoxantha, and Gyromitra melaleucoides should be mature spores from a spore deposit when comparison is made (Michael Beug, pers. comm.). See also SIMILAR section of Gyromitra californica.
