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Species Information
Summary: Features include flat to cushion-shaped, orangish yellow to grayish or brownish fruitbodies growing on polypores, up to several centimeters across, with visible small openings and hairs on the surface. The description is derived from Overton(1).
Hypocrea pulvinata sensu stricto collections were examined from WA, NH, NY, UT, Austria, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and the distribution includes Japan, (Overton(1)). There are collections from BC and OR at the University of British Columbia and a collection from WA at Oregon State University.
Fruiting body: cushion-shaped or lying flat, single to confluent, covering areas 0.2-6cm across; "orangish yellow to greyish orange, sometimes brownish yellow to golden-yellow, or brown-yellow"; KOH+ but variable, sometimes weak, generally becoming orange or red; openings of ostioles visible on surface, hairs present on surface
Microscopic: part-ascospores colorless, smooth to minutely spinulose, thin-walled, generally monomorphic and longer than broad, distal part elliptic, sometimes nearly round, (2.8)3.7-4.7(6.0) x (2.3)2.9-3.7(4.6) microns, proximal part elliptic, sometimes nearly round, (2.8)3.8-5(6.7) × (2.3)2.8-3.8(4.7) microns; asci cylindric, (44)66-90(115) x (2.8)3.6-5.2(7.9) microns, cylindric, tip slightly thickened, containing 8 two-celled uniseriate ascospores (appearing like a line of 16); warted hairs at surface of stromata, "tissue immediately below the stroma surface formed of compact to loose pseudoparenchymatous cells", textura globulosa to t. angularis; perithecia "numerous and completely immersed in the stromata, generally widely spaced but compact near the centre", ellipsoidal, (189)206-246(275) microns long (including length of ostiolar canal), width of perithecia near the base 3/4 total length of perithecium; length of ostiolar canal (36)48-72(82) microns; width of ostiolar canal (29)43-63(72) microns; perithecial wall KOH+, reaction variable, usually brownish orange
Habitat / Range
on a variety of polypores including Laetiporus sulphureus, Fomitopsis pinicola, Piptoporus betulinus, and Ganoderma spp.
Similar Species
Hypocrea americana and Hypocrea protopulvinata are closely related and the habitat is on polypores in both cases. H. americana has part-ascospores that are subglobose to rhomboidal, measuring (1.7)2.6–3.8(6.2) x (2.4)3.2–4.2(5.4) microns. Collections were examined by Overton(1) from AZ, NH, NM, and NY. Hypocrea protopulvinata has dimorphic smooth spores with the distal part nearly round, (3)3.3-3.9(4.3) x (2.6)3-5(4.2) microns, and the proximal part elliptic, sometimes nearly round, (3.2)3.6-4.2 (4.8) x (2.4)2.7-3.3(3.8) microns. Collections were examined by Overton(1) from MD, NY, OH, and Japan. Hypocrea citrina (Pers: Fr.) Fr. sensu Overton et al. is also closely related but is white to yellow and grows flat on leaf litter, soil, bark, or moss. The part-ascospores have spinulose ornamentation, with the distal part nearly round, sometimes subelliptic, (3.2)4.1-5.2(6.3) x (2.9)3.7-4.8(5.7) microns, and the proximal part elliptic, sometimes nearly round to ovate, (3.3)4.4-6(7.1) x (2.5)3.3-4.9(6.3) microns. H. citrina has been reported from the Pacific Northwest but the sense is unknown: the name has often been used with the synonym Hypocrea pulvinata to cover both fruitbodies that grow on polypores and those that grow elsewhere. Collections were examined by Overton(1) from GA, KY, NC, NY, OH, and Europe, and the range includes Japan. Hypocrea rufa has been reported by Oluna Ceska from British Columbia (collections at the University of British Columbia) and a collection from Washington is at the New York Botanical Garden. Fruitbodies are red-brown (with the margin white when young), hemispherical to plate-like, and grow on damp wood or wet bark, or occasionally on old fungi or other plant remains. Hypocrea gelatinosa has cushions up to 0.2cm with dark green spots (because of spores) on a pale yellowish background and grows on wood. Hypocrea aureoviridis has disc-shaped bright yellow to brownish fruitbodies up to 0.5cm across, and also has dark green spots. Both of these have been reported from British Columbia by Oluna Ceska (collections at the University of British Columbia). O. Ceska has also deposited at the University of British Columbia a collection from British Columbia of Hypocrea moravica on a rotting branch of Alnus rubra (on bark and branchlet portions). Hypocrea patella has yellow plate-like fruitbodies on wood (with a definite border) - collections from British Columbia at the University of British Columbia are identified as this species.
