A HETEROTHALLIC, INOPERCULATE DISCOMYCETE: MORPHOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Studies of the fungus which produced large quantities of the recently described pigment, mycochrysone, revealed minute white apothecia which possessed a hymenial layer of slender paraphyses and inoperculate eight-spored asci. The eight ascospores of a single ascus produced four black (−) and four brown (+) colonies. Apothecia were formed in vitro, initially only along the lines of junction of these two readily distinguishable types of colonies. Phialospores and pycnidia-like structures were produced by the black (−) strain. Mycochrysone was produced only by the brown (+) strain. The various fruiting structures are described and illustrated. The organism could be a Calloria of the Helotiaceae but positive identification is not yet possible.