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Species Information
Summary: Features include small, blackish, cup-shaped to cushion-shaped fruitbodies, brown-black exterior that projects as a margin, clustered growth from under bark on dead Prunus branches, conidial stage also emerging, and microscopic characters.
Dermea cerasi is found from ME to WA and SC, is probably widely distributed through North America, and is also found in Europe, (Seaver). It is found in Switzerland (Breitenbach). Collections were examined from BC, NS, ON, PQ, MD, ME, MI, NH, NJ, NY, PA, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, (Groves).
Upper surface: apothecia [sexual fruitbodies] 0.2-0.5cm, turbinate [top-shaped] when young, then convex to cushion-like; spore bearing surface black to brown-black, rough, and surrounded by a projecting brown margin, (Breitenbach), apothecia 0.1-0.3cm wide and 0.15cm high, narrowed in lower part, "at first brownish, finally black, leathery to horny; hymenium at first concave, becoming plane, or convex, often slightly umbilicate, black, or slightly olivaceous"; conidial stage emerging, "irregular in form, circular, or elongate to conical, usually with several flask-shaped bodies which open irregularly", reaching a height of 0.1cm, soft-waxy, whitish to yellowish, (Seaver), 0.1-0.3cm across, up to 0.15cm high, circular to undulate; spore-bearing surface at first concave, becoming flat or convex, roughened, sometimes cracked, occasionally slightly umbilicate, black, olivaceous to greenish when moist; margin at first thick, raised, furfuraceous, finally bald and disappearing, openings of the pycnidial cavities often appearing as yellowish wrinkles around the margin; conidial fruitbodies erumpent, gregarious, 0.05-0.2(0.3)cm in length, 0.02-0.1cm high, very irregular in shape, circular or elongated, rounded irregularly to conic, whitish to yellowish, pruinose to farinaceous, surface wrinkled, soft, waxy, brittle, becoming more fleshy when moist, usually containing several flask-shaped, more or less lobed cavities that open irregularly and sometimes widely, tissue similar to the basal stroma of the apothecia, (Groves)
Flesh: yellow to yellow-green, (Breitenbach), consistency leathery to horny, becoming more fleshy-leathery when moist, (Groves)
Underside: brown-black (Breitenbach), at first brownish to yellowish brown, furfuraceous, finally black and bald, (Groves)
Stem: arising in clusters from a stroma lying under the bark, (Breitenbach), sessile, fruitbody narrowed in lower part, (Groves)
Microscopic: spores 15-25 x 4-5 microns, fusiform-elliptic, straight or slightly curved on one side, smooth, colorless, with 1 to several droplets, with 1 septum when mature, uniseriate; asci 8-spored, 100-125 x 10 microns, amyloid; paraphyses filiform [thread-like], sometimes forked toward tip, septate, (Breitenbach), spores 15-25 x 5-7 microns, elliptic-fusoid, colorless to yellowish, straight or slightly curved, simple becoming 3-septate; asci 8-spored, reaching 100-150 microns long and 10-15 microns wide, cylindric-clavate, tapering in lower part to a stem-like base; paraphyses simple or branched, the tips swollen and forming a yellowish epithecium; conidia 35-65 x 2.5-4.5 microns, sickle-shaped or almost straight, fusiform [spindle-shaped], colorless to faintly yellowish, simple or 1-septate; conidiophores 10-25 x 2-2.5 microns, simple or branched, tapering to a slender tip; microconidia 12-23 x 1-1.5 microns, filiform [thread-like], straight or curved, simple, colorless, (Seaver),
Habitat / Range
emerging from bark on dead branches of Prunus cerasus (sour cherry) or Prunus avium (wild cherry) in compact groups, in spring, (Breitenbach for Switzerland), simple, or more often cespitose [in tufts], "on branches of various species of Prunus", (Seaver), erumpent, "gregarious, separate or sometimes cespitose, with few in a cluster", on Prunus species
Similar Species
Dermea padi (Alb. & Schwein.) Fr. (examined from NY, Austria) and Dermea prunastri (Pers.) Fr. are also found on Prunus: ascospore and ascus characters are similar and the characters that most clearly separate them are the size and shape of the conidia. In D. cerasi 1) the sexual fruitbodies, usually occurring in clusters, are relatively large, usually exceeding 0.1cm and often more than 0.15cm in diameter, 2) the conidial fruitbodies consist of fleshy stromata usually containing several cavities, and 3) the conidia are mostly 40-60 x 2.5-4.5 microns and sharply pointed at the ends. In Dermea padi, 1) the sexual fruitbodies are smaller, mostly about 0.1cm in diameter and mostly occurring singly, 2) the conidial fruitbodies consist of hard, horny, rostrate stromata, usually containing a single cavity, and 3) the conidia are similar in shape to those of D. cerasi but much smaller, 20-30 x 2.5-4.0 microns. In Dermea prunastri, 1) the sexual fruitbodies are usually in clusters, more brownish than those of the other 2 species, and usually less than 0.1cm in diameter, 2) the conidial fruitbodies are usually cespitose, long-rostrate, very hard and horny in consistency, and contain a single cavity, and 3) the conidia are 20-30 x 4-7 microns, about the same length as those of D. padi but thicker and not as sharply pointed at the ends. (Groves). See also SIMILAR section of Dermea balsamea.
