back

Thelephora fuliginea (Burt) Kõljalg, I. Saar & Svantesson 2024

Syn.: Tomentella fuliginea (Burt) Bourdot & Galzin 1924

Basidiome effused, adherent to somewhat separable, granulose to slightly tufted-tomentose, soft membranaceous, up to 0.3 (0.5) mm thick.
Hymenophore discontinuous and finely granulose under the dissection microscope to continuous and smooth, normally greyish brown (10YR 6–4/2) or brown (10YR 6–5/3), sometimes slightly yellowish brown (10YR 6–5/4), distinctly paler than the subiculum.
Subiculum hypochnoid to soft membranaceous, rather loose, dark brown to dark rusty brown (10YR 3/3–2/2), distinctly darker than the active growing hymenium.
Margin sterile or almost so to fertile throughout, shortly thinning out, concolour with the subiculum.
Rhizomorphs absent.

Hyphal system monomitic; most hyphae with fibulate primary septa; simple and secondary septa can be present here and there in subicular hyphae.
Subicular hyphae mostly regular, (5) 6–9 (10) µm wide, yellowish brown to golden-brown or brown to dark brown, with thickening to thick wall (1–1.5 µm), cross-shape branching and anastomoses rare, sometimes with localized thickenings and 'elbow-like' bends, rarely with walls stratified.
Subhymenial hyphae mostly regular, 4–7 (9) µm wide, rarely wider at ramifications and then up to 14 µm, mostly dichotomously branched with one branch starting from clamp, cross-shape branching infrequent, in subhymenium mostly hyaline with thin wall, turning ochraceous or brownish and with thickening walls in deep subhymenium.
Cystidia absent.
Basidia stout clavate to subcylindrical or indistinctly utriform, sinuous, (40) 50–60 (70) x 9–11 µm at apex, 6–10 µm at the lower middle; 4 sterigmata 7–9 (10) µm long and (1.5) 2–2.5 (3) µm wide at the base, subhyaline when in active growing hymenium, turning more or less yellowish-brown when old.
Basidiospores with regular outline, frontal face subglobose to broadly ellipsoid or more or less distinctly ovoid, lateral face broadly ellipsoid to shortly ellipsoid, polar face mostly globose, about 8–9 µm across or, more precisely, (7) 7.5–9 (9.5) x (5.5) 6–7.5 (8) x (6.5) 7–8.5 (9) µm, Q¹ = (1.05) 1.1–1.25 (1.3), Q² = (0.97) 1–1.15 (1.8), echinulate, light to dull yellowish brown, sometimes entirely or partly greyish, brownish or blackish, some with a large guttula. Aculei 0.8–2 (2.5) µm long and 0.3–0.6 (0.8) µm wide at the base, single, tapering.
Chlamydospores absent.
Incrustation: present here and there as 1) brown to very dark brown granular resinous matter sometimes assuming a greyish or bluish black tint in water (spores are also typically partly covered) and becoming more diffuse, turning greyish to bluish black in KOH, spores often brown to dark grey brown; 2) some hyphae and basidia very finely incrusted by small granules barely visible in IKI mounts and mostly dissolving or subinvisible in KOH.
Chemical reactions: IKI: spore apiculus amyloid, some parts of elements (mostly wall thickenings or near septa) may become amyloid. - CB: inconsistent; thin-walled elements are mostly slightly cyanophilous. KOH: hyphae and elements loosing yellow hue to become slightly more darker, especially basal hyphae; hymenial elements sometimes showing grey-blue-lilac colours (but may be so also in water mounts), a faint cyanescent reaction can be detected in some parts of the hymenium in presence of air.

description: Elia Martini

drawings: Elia Martini