E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Sirotrema pusilla Bandoni
no common name
Tremellaceae

Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.

Introduction to the Macrofungi
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Distribution of Sirotrema pusilla
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Species Information

Summary:
Sirotrema pusilla is not likely to be encountered casually, but was described from BC and of intrinsic interest: the Sirotrema species appear to be intermediate between Sirobasidium (not in western North America) and Tremella.

includes BC
Fruiting body:
0.1-0.3cm long, 0.1-0.2cm wide, 0.05-0.1cm high, elongate-hemispheric, gelatinous, drying to an inconspicuous horny layer; white to faintly yellowish
Microscopic:
ballistospores 5.5-7 x 3-4 microns, oblong, flattened adaxially, sometimes slightly curved, germinating by repetition or by budding, blasto-basidiospores cylindric or slightly tapered proximally, produced directly from epibasidium or from an apical cell on epibasidium, often remaining attached and sometimes conjugating with similar cells on adjacent basidia; probasidia 9-12(15) x 6.5-7.5(9) microns, mostly nearly spherical to obovoid, ellipsoid, or subcylindric, "single or sometimes in contiguous pairs, infrequently in chains of 3, predominantly 4-celled at maturity, but a few appearing irregularly 1-3 septate, the meiospores disposed diagonally or in a linear series (i.e. transversely septate basidia)", epibasidia "5-75 x 1.5-2 microns, slightly swollen apically, infrequently septate below the apex, the terminal cell 5-6 x 1.5-2 microns and producing blastospores"; in young fruiting bodies, "hyphae compact, of short segments, 1.5-2.5 microns between clamps, swollen at the clamps to 4-5 microns", in more mature fruiting bodies, "segments elongated, infrequently branched, the branches arising through clamps or directly from hyphae", haustorial branches present, often with 2 filaments (1 basal, 1 terminal), or a single initial filament branching near the parent cell, occasional vesicular swellings up to 20 microns in diameter present in context and in subhymenium; haploid state a yeast

Habitat / Range

originating in spore-bearing surface of Hypoderma ?pacificensis ascomycete fruiting bodies growing on fallen petioles of Acer macrophyllum (bigleaf maple)

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Cordyceps variabilis Petch
Cordyceps viperina Mains

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

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Species References

General References