Ciborinia whetzelii (Seaver) Seaver
aspen ink spot
Sclerotiniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
aspen ink spot
Sclerotiniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Ciborinia whetzelii produces brown cup-shaped stemmed fruitbodies arising in the spring from overwintering black sclerotia that develop on browned aspen leaves giving an "inkspot" appearance and later fall to the duff leaving "shotholes" in the leaves. It is common throughout BC (Allen).
Microscopic:
spores 11-16 x 4-7 microns, elliptic, uniseriate; asci reaching a length or 150-200 microns and width of 9-12 microns, (Seaver), spores 7-10 x 3-4 microns, oval, single-celled, colorless; asci 8-spored, 160-180 x 11-12 microns, club-shaped, with a small apical plug that stains blue in Melzer''s reagent; sclerotia have a distinctive palisade layer of cells just under the outer surface, (Callan), paraphyses numerous (Funk)
Notes:
It is found in BC (Allen), and throughout Canada and the northern United States, but the sexual state has not yet been documented in BC, (Callan). It occurs specifically in PQ and NY, (Seaver).
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Ciborinia seaveri Groves and Bowerman, common in Alberta and eastern Canada but not reported in BC, produces similar symptoms in leaves, but the sclerotia are smaller, averaging 0.3-0.5cm across, and occur mainly on veins and petioles rather than leaf blades, (Callan).Habitat
fruitbodies on sclerotia lying on ground that have dehisced from the leaves of Populus tremuloides, (Seaver), sclerotia on aspen and cottonwood leaves, (Allen), on aspen, rarely on balsam poplar, (Callan)
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Coryne sarcoides (Jacq.) Tul. & C. Tul.