Morchella tomentosa M. Kuo 2008

Snabl, Martin, Guidori, Urbano, Gianchino, Carmelo, Leonardi, Marco, Zambonelli, Alessandra & Iotti, Mirco, 2023, New insights on post-fire morels (Morchella spp.) in Italy, Phytotaxa 599 (5), pp. 280-290 : 286-287

Morchella tomentosa M. Kuo 2008 ( Fig. 3e‒g and 5 )

Mycobank MB511840

Exsiccata are deposited in the Herbarium Mycologicum Aquilanum (AQUI) with the code AQUI_10399.

Description:—Ascomata 70‒110 mm high. Hymenophore 45‒60 mm high, 30‒50 mm wide at the widest point; cylindric to ovoid, with a rounded to depressed apex, sometimes perforated; pitted and ridged; primary ridges thick, sinuous and irregularly vertical when young; secondary ridges shorter; anastomosed, attached to stipe with a sinus deeper than wide. Ridges densely tomentose when young; brownish-gray to black; flattened when young, then rounded, cracked or eroded with maturity. Pits white, greyish to pale brown; glabrous and sometimes warty; irregularly shaped and almost closed when young but vertically elongated and open by maturity. Stipe 30‒50 mm high; 15‒30 mm wide; irregularly cylindrical; basally subclavate and lacunose; flared to apex; finely tomentose with small, dark brown to blackish warts, with tufts of short hairs. Context chambered and layered; 2-3 mm thick; hard; white with grayish layers in the stipe. Sterile inner surface tomentose; white in the hymenophore and gray in the stipe. Smell fungal, pleasant, almost fruity.

Asci 8-spored; 120‒280 × 12‒15 μm; cylindrical to clavate; one- biseptate at the base; hyaline, non-amyloid; uniseriate and operculate. Ascospores (16.9)20‒25.3(27.6) × (9.2)10‒15.1(17.4) μm; Q = (1.5)1.54‒2.2(2.6) (average 22.6 × 12.6; Q = 1.8); smooth; elliptical; thin-walled; hyaline, contents homogeneous. Paraphyses 120‒200 × 5‒10 μm; cylindric to clavate, apices rounded sometime capitate; hyaline, contents homogeneous; thin walled; one- biseptate at the base. Acroparaphyses 75‒150 × 12‒35 μm; clavate, apices rounded; hyaline, contents homogeneous; thin walled; septate at the base; hairs on sterile ridges (140)180‒220(250) × (6)8‒18(22) μm; originating from spherocytes of the sub-imenial layer; cylindric, apices rounded, sometimes bottlenecked in the middle part; thin-walled; 2‒3 septate; hyaline in water, red to gray-black contents from the apices to the base in Congo red, brownish-gray contents in KOH. Hairs on the outer stipe surface 100‒140 × (6)8‒12(15) μm; cylindric, apices rounded; septate; thin-walled; hyaline, sometimes finely granulated. Hairs of the inner stipe surface 65‒112 × 12‒20 μm; clavate; bundled; thin-walled; contents hyaline to greyish; septate at the base. Internal surface of the hymenophore covered by spherocytes; thin-walled; hyaline; grouped to form small warts.

Ecology:—ascomata from a burnt pine forest located on mountainside at 1,130 asl. In addition to the eight specimens of M. tomentosa , thousands Morchella spp. ascomata (mainly M. importuna and a few specimens of M. eximia , M. purpurascens (Krombh. ex Boud.) Jacquet and M. esculenta ) were also found in the burnt area of Arischia.

Comments:—Macro and micromorphology of ascomata studied in this work were similar to those reported for the holotype described by Kuo (2008) with the exception of the spores that are slightly bigger for Mto1.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Habitats and macro-morphology of M.vulgaris f. atrovelutipes (Mvu39) (a–d) and M. tomentosa (Mto1) (e–g). a, e: collection sites; b, f: ascoma; c, g: ascoma in section; d: detail of the stipe of M. vulgaris f. atrovelutipes.

FIGURE 5. Micro-morphology of M. tomentosa (Mto1). a: hairs on sterile ridges; b: hairs on ridges in water; c: hair on ridges in congo red; d: hairs on ridges under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM); e: asci in congo red; f: paraphyses in congo red; g: acroparaphyses in congo red; h: spores in congo red; i: spores in water; j: hairs on outer stipe surface in congo red; k: hairs on inner stipe surface; l: hairs on inner stipe surface in water. Bars = 20 µm (b–d, i) and 40 µm (e–h, j, l).