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Species Information
Summary: Plectania milleri produces a black cup with little or no stem, stellate margin, hairy exterior, and distinctive microscopic characters including black hyphae that penetrate the medullary excipulum.
Plectania milleri is found at least in OR and ID, (Larsen). There are collections from BC at the University of British Columbia. There are collections from WA, OR, and CA at Oregon State University.
Upper surface: fruitbody 1-4cm broad, 0.5-1cm high, sessile [without stem] or with short thick stem, cup-shaped when young, becoming nearly disc-shaped when old, gelatinous in consistency at maturity; spore-bearing upper surface dark brown to purple brown when fresh, drying black; margin stellate, (Paden), 1-4cm wide, 0.5-2cm in profile, cup-shaped to broadly bowl-shaped or when old nearly disc-shaped; dark brown to purple-brown or nearly black, drying black, (Castellano), cup with a toothed edge (Trudell), margin like reversed scallops (I. Gibson, pers. comm.)
Underside: black, hirsute, covered with appressed dark brown to black hyphae, lacking orange granules near margin, (Castellano)
Stem: has at most a short stem (Trudell)
Microscopic: spores 21-25.5 x 9-10.5 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless, without droplets; asci 8-spored, 380-425 x 12-15 microns, long cylindric, suboperculate; paraphyses 1.5-3 microns wide, thread-like, occasionally branched; hyphae on exterior "dark-walled, smooth, occasionally branched, sparingly septate"; "hypothecium of textura intricata with dark cell walls, appearing as a dark zone beneath the hymenium; medullary excipulum up to 1.2 mm thick, of hyaline textura intricata in a gelatinous matrix, penetrated by dark, branched, septate hyphae that originate in the ectal excipulum, ramify though the medullary excipulum, and terminate below the hypothecium; ectal excipulum 100-200 microns thick, of textura angularis with dark cell walls, the outer cells giving rise to the tomentum hyphae", (Paden), spores (24.4)26.3-27.6(28.9) x 10.5-12.5 microns (Castellano)
Habitat / Range
gregarious to crowded, saprophytic in plant debris, fruiting during May and June, (Paden), associated with mixed conifers (Castellano)
Similar Species
"Plectania milleri differs from P. melastoma in its stellate margin, dark hyphae penetrating the medullary excipulum, and smooth tomentum hyphae. In P. melastoma the margin is entire or slightly split but is never stellate, the tomentum hyphae are encrusted with orange granules, and there are no dark hyphae in the medullary excipulum", (Paden). Pseudoplectania melaena differs in having round spores, and fruiting on dead twigs and branches of conifers in early spring. With immature specimens this species is very similar to round-spored Pseudoplectania nigrella, but at this stage spores may not be obtainable: with mature specimens the larger cup size and stellate margin of P. milleri and the marginal hairs of P. nigrella are sufficient to distinguish them, (Maguire). Donadinia nigrella has a long stem, a cup that lacks the toothed edge, an exterior that is less hairy, and spores that are slightly larger, (Trudell). Urnula padeniana and Pseudosarcosoma latahense are more gelatinized.
