Godronia cassandrae Peck
no common name
Godroniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Godroniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Features include tiny, nearly spherical fruitbodies that open to become urceolate, the exterior tawny to reddish brown to dark olivaceous brown, slightly furfuraceous, and striate, the spore-bearing surface whitish to gray or greenish gray, the margin even or slightly fringed, somewhat lobed, stem absent, inconspicuous conidial state, growth on Vaccinium and other plants, and microscopic characters including 8 thread-like spores per ascus. Godronia cassandrae is one of the best known of the Godronia species because it is the cause of a disease of considerable economic importance in Vaccinium. Various forms distinguished by different hosts are of dubious taxonomic status according to Groves.
Microscopic:
spores (40)50-70(85) x (1.5)2.0-3.0(3.5) microns, filiform, straight or curved, pointed at the ends, colorless, 3-7-(9-)septate, "fasciculate or more or less intertwined in the ascus"; asci 8-spored, (70)95-115(130) x (7.0)7.5-9.0(10.5) microns, cylindric to cylindric-clavate, narrowed in lower part, pore turning blue with iodine; paraphyses 1.5-2 microns in diameter, filiform [thread-like], colorless, septate, simple or branched, "the tips not or very slightly swollen, not forming an epithecium"; conidia (7.0)9.0-14.0(18.0) x 1.5-2.5(3.5) microns, colorless, narrow-fusiform, mostly straight, mostly 2-celled, sometimes 1-celled, ends pointed, conidiophores variable in length, about 6-25 x 1.5-2 microns, cylindric to cylindric-subulate, colorless, "continuous or septate, simple or branched"
Notes:
Collections were examined of forma vaccinii (habitat on Vaccinium spp.) BC, OR, NS, ON, and PQ, of forma cassandrae (habitat on Chamaedaphne calyculata) ON, PQ, MI, and NY, of forma ribicola (habitat on Ribes spp.) ON, CO, NH, and UT, of forma spiraeicola (habitat on Spiraea spp. and Sorbaria sp.) Austria, Finland, Germany, Latvia, and Russia, of forma callunae (on Callunae vulgaris) the United Kingdom, and of forma betulicola (on Betula alba) Germany, (Groves).
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Five other species occur on Ribes besides Godronia cassandrae (forma ribicola): 1) Godronia uberiformis with a conspicuous conidial state, 2) Godronia davidsonii with shorter spores, 3) Godronia grossulariae (rare and known to Groves only from the type collection, fruitbodies similar microscopically but are larger, more blackish, more strongly erumpent, and open more widely), 4) Godronia lobata (margin splits to form overlapping lobes, known from California), and 5) Godronia ribis (common in Europe but not established for North America), (Groves).Habitat
"erumpent, separate to cespitose in small clusters or sometimes up to 10 in a cluster", see NOTES for hosts
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Thelephora leucobryophila Henn.
Trechispora leucobryophila (Henn.) Liberta