Clavaria zollingeri Léveille (1846: 155)

Furtado, Ariadne N. M., Daniëls, Pablo P. & Neves, Maria Alice, 2016, New species and new records of Clavariaceae (Agaricales) from Brazil, Phytotaxa 253 (1), pp. 1-26 : 9-10

Clavaria zollingeri Léveille (1846: 155)

Basidiomata ( Fig. 1f ) 2.0− 7.5 cm high, gregarious, caespitose, purple (15C7) or deep purple (15D8) to grayish ruby (12E5), magenta (13D5), rose (12B6) or purplish red (14C7), drying pale yellow (4A3), blunt or becoming subulate above, irregular, more or less fastigiate, branched; branches 1.0−3.0 mm wide, cylindric; axils rounded, divided 1−4 times, polychotomous below, apices concolorous with the branches; stipe 10−25 × 2.0−3.0 mm, often branched from the base. Context concolorous with the branches; taste and smell absent.

Basidiospores ( Fig. 7a ) 6.0−7.0 × 4.0−6.0 μm (Q=1.23), broadly ellipsoid, hyaline, smooth, thin-walled, uniguttulate, inamyloid; hilar appendage up to 1.0 μm long, often sublateral. Basidia ( Fig. 7b ) 38−60 × 9.0−13 μm, clavate, multiguttulate, clampless; sterigmata (2−)4, 5.0−7.0 μm long. Cystidia absent. Hymenium 40−100 μm thick, absent in stipe. Subhymenium up to 40 μm thick; hyphae 5.0 μm wide, clampless, gradually inflating up to 10 μm wide. Context ( Fig. 7c ) with subparallel hyphae; hyphae 5.0−22 μm wide, clampless, barrel-shaped, frequently secondarily septate, slightly constricted at primary septa, walls slightly thickened, smooth, H-connections frequent.

Habitat and distribution:—In the Atlantic Forest this species is found on soil in the shade. In Brazil it is known from Amazonas ( De Lamônica-Freire 1979), Paraná ( De Meijer 2006, 2009), Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul (present study) and São Paulo ( Bononi et al. 1981). Known at least from Europe and North America (Olariaga, 2009) but likely well distributed worldwide.

Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Santa Catarina: Florianópolis, Morro da Lagoa , Trilha do Jipe , 27º59'43"S, 49º47'83"W, 12 November 2013, A.N.M. Furtado 365 (FLOR 56149), ibid., 03 December 2013, A.N.M. Furtado 391 (FLOR 56155); Florianópolis, Trilha para Lagoinha do Leste, 27º59’43”S, 49º47’83”W, 21 May 2014, A.N.M. Furtado 499 (FLOR 56145). Rio Grande do Sul: São Francisco de Paula , Floresta Nacional de São Francisco de Paula (FLONA), 29º22’58”S, 50º22’32”W, 12 April 2014, A.C. Magnago 1039, 1043 (FLOR 56151, 56152) .

Additional specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Sul: no location, n.d., J.E. Rick n.n. (BPI 332489). Paraná: São José dos Pinhais, Roça Velha, 31 March 2001, A.A.R. De Meijer 4070 (MBM). Amazonas: Manaus, Reserva Florestal Ducke, 15 June 1978, E.M.H. Freire 202 (INPA 79050), ibid., 21 April 1977, R. Singer B9763 (INPA 69937), ibid., 08 June 1978, E.M.H. Freire 187 (INPA 79037).

Remarks:— Clavaria zollingeri is easily found in the forest because of its vivid purplish color. Clavaria zollingeri exhibits a lot of morphological variation, is widely distributed and is one of the few branched species of Clavaria s. str. Unpublished molecular data show that the tropical collections under this name may be a different species (Olariaga, pers. comm.). The dimension and shape of the basidiospores vary from author to author ( Coker 1923, Corner 1967b, Gerault 2005, Shiryaev 2009). This species could be confused with the brittle Clavulina amethystina (Bull.) Donk from Europe ( Olariaga et al. 2009), but it differs microscopically by the bispored basidia and the non-secondarily septate hyphae in the context. Ramariopsis pulchella (Boud.) Corner also has a purplish, branched basidioma, but differs by its minutely verrucose basidiospores, clamps in all parts of the basidioma and the presence of crystals in the context at the base of the stipe ( Petersen 1988).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Photographs of basidiomata in the field. a Clavaria diverticulata (ACM 1044); b. Ca. fragilis (ACM 1041); c. Ca. fumosa (ACM 598); d. Ca. gibbsiae (ANMF 484); e. Ca. subglobosa (MAN 732); f. Ca. zollingeri (ANMF 365); g. Clavulinopsis amoena (KEL 21); h. Cs. aurantiocinnabarina (ANMF 382); i. Cs. dimorphica (ACM 1051); j. Cs. helvola (KEL 34); k. Cs. imperata (ANMF 482); l. Cs. laeticolor (ANMF 495); m. Cs. spiralis (MAN 1077); n. Ramariopsis kunzei (ACM 596). Bars = 1.0 cm. Photographs by Altielys C. Magnago (A, B, C, I, N) and Raquel Friedrich (G).

FIGURE 7. Microcharacters of Clavaria zollingeri (ANMF 365). a. Basidiospores; b. Basidia; c. Secondarily septate hyphae. Bars = 10 μm.