Lycoperdon ericaeum Bonord., Bot. Ztg.

Kim, Chang Sun, Jo, Jong Won, Kwag, Young-Nam, Sung, Gi-Ho, Han, Jae-Gu, Shrestha, Bhushan, Oh, Soon-Ok, Kim, Sang-Yong, Shin, Chang-Ho & Han, Sang-Kuk, 2016, Two new Lycoperdon species collected from Korea: L. albiperidium and L. subperlatum spp. nov., Phytotaxa 260 (2), pp. 101-115 : 110-111

Lycoperdon ericaeum Bonord., Bot. Ztg. 15: 596 (1857), Fig. 5

Description:—Basidiomata 15–30 mm diam., 25–30 mm high, subglobose to obpyriform, rhizomorphs attached to substrate. Exoperidium echinate or verrucae with smallish spines (less than 1 mm tall); whitish when young, becoming grayish brown to brown when old. Endoperidium pale yellow to grayish yellow, papery. Gleba yellowish to olivebrown at maturity, pulverulent. Subgleba grayish yellow to yellowish. Solitary to gregarious.

Basidiospores 4.5–5.0 × 4.2–4.8 μm, length/width ratio 1.0–1.1 (n = 30), globose to subglobose, very faintly ornamented to faintly verrucose (A–B in the sense of Demoulin 1972a, b), sometimes slightly long pedicel present (<2.3 μm long), pale yellow to yellow in 3% KOH. Basidia 9.3–11.8 × 6.7–7.9 μm, length/width ratio 1.3–1.6 (n = 12), clavate, without basal clamp; usually two sterigmata, 7–17 μm long. Capillitium of Lycoperdon - type; eucapillitial threads 2.2–3.4 μm diam., thick-walled (up to 1.2 μm), fragile to subelastic, aseptate, straight, occasional dichotomous branching, irregular pores frequently present, yellow to pale brownish in 3% KOH; paracapillitial threads present, 1.9–2.3 μm diam., thin-walled, straight to subundulate, septate, hyaline in 3% KOH. Exoperidium composed of sphaerocysts, 18–26 μm diam., thick-walled (up to 3.0 μm thick), hyaline in 3% KOH. Endoperidium composed of tightly interwoven hyphal elements, occasionally inflated elements resembling sphaerocysts, thin-walled, hyaline in 3% KOH.

Habitat:—on slightly grassed terrain or needle debris.

Examined specimen:— KOREA. Chungnam Province, Geumsan-gun, Mt. Jinak , coll. Han et al., 18 July 2012 (KA12-0761), deposited in KH ; Gyeongnam Province, Hamyang-gun, Mt. Gibaek , coll. Han et al., 16 October 2013 (KA13-1463), deposited in KH .

Comments:—Two Korean Lycoperdon specimens (KA12-0761 and KA13-1463) clustered with Japanese and Swedish L. ericaeum ITS sequences ( Fig. 1 ) and were almost identical morphologically ( Jeppson et al., 2012; Kasuya et al., 2013). Phylogenetically, L. ericaeum is related to L. rupicola Jeppson, E. Larss. & M.P. Martín and L. subumbrinum Jeppson & E. Larss. , but is distinguishable by the presence of fragile eucapillitial threads ( Table 2).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Bayesian 50% majority-rule consensus topology based on ITS sequence data. Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP) and 1000 bootstrap replicates in MP analysis (MPBS) are indicated as PP/MPBS above or below branches. Broad black branches indicate PP>0.95 and MPBS>60%. Broad gray branches indicate 0.89<PP<0.95 and MPBS>50%.

FIGURE 5. Fruiting bodies and microscopic observation of Lycoperdon ericaeum. a, b. Fruiting bodies (a. KA12-0761; b. KA13-1463). c, d. Eucapillitial threads (KA12-0761) in CL. e. Exoperidial elements (KA12-0761) in 3% KOH. f. Inflated elements in endoperidium (KA13-1463) in 3% KOH. g. Eucapillitial threads and paracapillitial threads (KA12-0761) in CL. h. Basidia and basidiosproes (KA13- 1463) in 3% KOH. i. Basidiospores (KA12-0761) in 3% KOH. Scale bars: a,b = 3 cm, c–i = 10 μm. Photos by: C.S. Kim & S-.K. Han.