December 4, 2018

Scutellinia

The Eyelash Cup or Eyelash Fungus is a relatively common species of Ascomycete. It can often be found growing on (usually) wet earth/debris/wood. Unfortunately although it is easy to identify to genus in the field it is almost impossible to narrow that down to species within the group without resorting to detailed microscopic examination.
The spores can be globose through broadly ellipsoid right on to narrowly ellipsoid. The ornamentation, which should be examined on mature, ejected spores with the use of a stain like Lactophenol Cotton Blue can also be very varied. They may be spines, truncated spines, large to small warts and with or without reticulations.
The length of the hairs at the edge of the cup need to be measured and a note taken of the number of septa and also the type of "root" at the base of these hairs.
With this information and the use of a key most can be given a name with some degree of certainty.
An online key can be found on the home page of the Mid Yorks Fungus Group http://www.myfg.org.uk
Although this is aimed at European species most of the commoner species are included.

Posted on December 4, 2018 11:08 AM by malcolmgreaves malcolmgreaves | 2 comments | Leave a comment

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