Dermea balsamea (Peck) Seaver
no common name
Dermateaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Dermateaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Features include tiny, circular or wavy, yellowish to brownish then black fruitbodies that are furfuraceous at first, the spore-bearing surface concave to slightly convex and often umbilicate, colored light brown to olivaceous brown or black, the margin at first raised, yellowish, and furfuraceous, the consistency leathery to horny (fleshy-leathery when moist), erumpent growth on fir and hemlock, and microscopic characters. The description is derived from Groves(2).
Microscopic:
spores (18)20-30(35) x (5)6-8(10) microns, elliptic-fusiform, straight or slightly curved, colorless or slightly yellowish, 1-4-celled, irregularly biseriate or almost uniseriate; asci 8-spored, (90)100-130(150) x (12)14-16 microns, cylindric-clavate, tapering to a more or less elongated stem; paraphyses 1.5-2.0 microns in diameter, filiform [thread-like], colorless, "septate, usually much branched", "the tips glued together forming a yellowish epithecium, and only very slightly or not at all swollen"; conidia (50)60-75(90) x 4-5 microns, elongate-filiform, usually curved, sickle-shaped to sigmoid, (sometimes almost straight), pointed at ends, colorless to pale greenish yellow, 1-4-celled; conidiophores 15-25 x 2.0-2.5 microns, colorless, "septate, sometimes branched, tapering to a slender tip"; microconidia 11-22 x 1.0-1.5 microns, filiform, straight or curved, colorless, 1-celled
Notes:
Collections were examined from NS, ON, PQ, NH, ME, PA, and VA, (Groves). There are numerous collections from BC at the Pacific Forestry Centre determined by A. Funk.
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Dermea pseudotsugae also has relatively large (for Dermea) yellow to black apothecia and conidia with sharply pointed ends, exceeding 35 microns long, and both grow on conifers, but the fruiting structures of Dermea balsamea are larger: apothecia reach 0.25cm whereas those of D. pseudotsugae rarely exceed 0.15cm, the maximum length of the spores in D. balsamea is 7 microns more than in D. pseudotsugae, and the maximum length of the macroconidia in D. balsamea is twice the length in D. pseudotsugae, (Funk(2)). Dermea cerasi and Dermea molliuscula have different habit, habitat, and microscopic characters (Dermea balsamea occurring on Abies and Tsuga and apothecia usually occurring singly or in clusters of 2 or 3, having asci somewhat broader and ascospores slightly larger than the other two, conidia mostly longer than those of D. cerasi and broader than those of D. molliuscula, and conidial fruitbodies usually with only a single cavity and smaller and more pycnidium-like than those of either of the other two species), (Groves). Dermea grovesii has reddish brown apothecia, (Funk(2)).Habitat
apothecia "erumpent, gregarious, mostly separate, sometimes cespitose with 2-4 in a cluster", on Abies balsamea (Balsam Fir) and Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock); conidial fruitbodies "erumpent to subimmersed, gregarious to scattered", (Groves), BC specimens mostly on Abies lasiocarpa (Subalpine Fir) and Tsuga heterophylla (Western Hemlock), also on Abies amabilis (Pacific Silver Fir), Pinus monticola (Western White Pine), and Thuja plicata (Western Red-cedar)