PERSOONIA Published by the Rijksherbarium, Leiden Volume 4, part 3, pp. 345-350 (1966) Paraphelaria, a new genus of Auriculariaceae (Basidiomycetes) E.J. H. Corner Botany School, University of Cambridge Recent collections from the Solomon Islands show that Aphelaria amboi- of nensis (Lev.) Corner is an auriculariaceous fungus coriaceous consistency, devoid ofhymenium, but with the basidia immersed longitudinally in the Re-named ambonensis comb, superficial tissue. Paraphelaria (Lév.) nov. gen., both and Tremellodendron. nov., it is a parallel to Aphelaria to is the of branched clavarioid It lacks clear Aphelaria most undistinguished genera. its have ornamentation and variable in pigmentation; spores no seem very shape and size even within specific limits; its simple hyphae do not inflate and, generally, devoid of it the critical. are clamps. Yet, turns out to be, perhaps, most It leads to Tremellodendron the basidia of which less through Tremellodendropsis, are more or intermediatebetween the homobasidiumand the Tremella-basidium (Corner, 1966). which the Now I add an Auricularia-basidiumfor new genus Paraphelaria is created. In and Auriculariaceae in effect, Homobasidiomycetes, Tremellaceae, converge this clavarioid form, where they are distinguishable only by the basidium. These three main of also groups are, course, represented by resupinate, stereoid, hydnoid, most and even polyporoid forms, of which in the Heterobasidiomycetes have gelat- inous fruit-bodies, and by this means the beginner soon learns to distinguish Calocera from Clavaria. He becomes with the (Dacryomycetaceae) so impressed gelatinous nature of heterobasidiomycetes that he forgets the correspondence in growth-form with the in the of the clavarioid is the homobasidiomycetes which, case central from which the rest are derived, either by elaborationor by degeneration (Corner, 1964: 234). The fruit-bodies of Aphelaria, Paraphelaria, Tremellodendropsis, and Tremel- lodendron have, however, dry thick-walled hyphae and, consequently, a coriaceous texture which this barrier to It is to dis- removes, thereby, comparison. impossible the tinguish them except by minute microscopy; they inherit branched seaweed- form and in this but in mechanism are not convergent respect, divergent sporangial (Church, 1919: 58). Tremellodendropsis shows, perhaps, how the Tremella-basidium has been derived from the basidium of is unseptate Aphelaria. It possible that an intermediatewith exists this the Paraphelaria for, as genus shows, mycological resour- ces of the world are far from being exploited. 345 Part 346 PERSOONIA Vol. 4, 3, 1966 Aphelaria amboinensis has been a puzzle; the scant herbarium-material seems sterile. In 1965, during the expedition sent by the Royal Society of London to the the surface roots which build a tussock Solomon Islands, I met repeatedly among The at the base of the short trunks of the palm Areca macrocalyx a large Aphelaria. lowland of palm forms a conspicuous undergrowth in the broader, wetter, valleys becomes infected the which fruits the forest; possibly every one by fungus copiously in the appropriate season when heavy rains follow a dry spell. Yet, I was unable of the size of the fruit- with a hand-lens to detect any hymenium, regardless or age body. I thought that the fungus must be A. amboinensis and, aggravated by this collected in formalin-alcohol much material of all from apparent frustration, I ages several localities, as well as dried material. Examination of this has now shown it in the me that the fungus lacks, indeed, a hymenium, but that produces outer of its branches basidia the layer, c. 100 /i thick, longitudinal, transversely septate sterigmata of which reach the surface by growing between the Aphelaria-hyphae and vary, accordingly, very much in length; there is no mucilaginous covering to is clavarioid known without the surface. This the only fungus to me, a hymenium of basidia perpendicular to the surface. The young basidia are, clearly, the gloeo- cystidial branches which I described from the herbarium-material when I trans- have been unable find ferred the species to Aphelaria. Unfortunately, I to any any germinated spores. Paraphelaria Corner, gen. nov. multifida floccoso- Receptacula clavarioidea erecta flabellato-ramosa, v. dichotoma, fibrillosa coriacea, haud gelatinosa, hymenio vix evoluto. Sporae albae aseptatae leves. Basidia auriculiformia, subclavata v. subcylindrica, plerumque recta, sine probasidio, in in cellulis 4 transverse septata, longitudinalia, superficialia v. textu superficiali immersa. Cystidia nulla. Hyphae monomiticae afibulatae, haud inflatae, plus minus crasse tunicatae, hyalinae. — Typus: Thelephora amboinensis Lev. Paraphelaria amboinensis (Lev.) Corner, comb. nov. amboinensis T. T. Annls Thelephora Lev., funalis Lev., scoparia Lev., in Sci. nat. (Bot.), ser. — L. Ill, 2: 207, 208. 1844. Lachnocladium funale (Lev.) Sacc., scoparium (Lev.) Sacc., Syll. 6: 1888. — amboinensis in Ann. Fung. 739. Aphelaria (Lev.) Corner Bot., ser. II, 17: 348. 1953. much then drab Erect, -15 cm. high, sparingly to branched, white, or isabelline, finally pale fuliginous from the base upwards (attacked by a pyrenomycete); trunk 1-6 acicular abortive cm X 2-15 mm, becoming strigoso-villous and set with branches; main branches in massive fruit-bodiesbecoming strigoso-villous; branches EXPLANATION OF FIGURE I Fig. 1. Paraphelaria amboinensis, a large fruit-body (RSS 706B), a young fruit-body (left, and RSS RSS 712), a depauperate fruit-body (right, 708); X 1.5. Auriculariaceae 347 CORNER: Paraphelaria, a new genus of Fig. 1 PERSOONIA 348 Vol. 4, Part 3, 1966 multifid-flabellate below with the axils 2-8 mm wide, narrower and dichoto- mous above, 1-2.5 mm wide, uneven, rugulose, often twisted and confluent, the tips obtuse then elongate and subulate, finely penicillate, withoutevident hymenium, but fertile on all sides: smell none. On the ground in lowland forest; Java, Amboina, Aru Islands, Solomon Islands of (generally among the short aerial roots Areca macrocalyx). Spores X l ellipsoid-subcylindric or thin- 19-25 5.5-7*5 f i subarcuate, obtuse, walled, not amyloid, shortly apiculate, with finely guttulate contents. Basidia 90- the cells 125 X 6-9 n, 20-30 fi long, densely guttulate-oleaginous; sterigmatic short the processes 10-100 x 3-3.5 dilating distally 4-5 fi wide, on super- ficial the the acicular basidia, longer on immersed, tip 2-4 /j. long. Hyphae 3-8 n the walls thick in the old wide, thickening -0.5 //, becoming 1-2.5 P tissue, drying pale brownish ochraceous but hyaline in the living state, longitudinal, entwined, the cells sometimes subterminal vesicular swel- 25-160 fi long, with intercalary or the branches constricted contents lings 9-15 /i wide, on origin, hyaline; growing loose hyphal tips 2-3.5 P wide, multiguttulate, soon vacuolate, and spreading at the ends of the branches of the fruit-body. Solomon Islands collections from the Warahito River, San Cristobal: RSS 706 ul ( r 9 J Y 1965)1 7°6A (i Aug. 1965), 706B (2 Aug. 1965), 708 (20 July 1965, on bare earth, branched only near the base with simple subulate branches -6 cm long), 712 (20 July 1965), 766 (24 July 1965). The which the of the trunk pyrenomycete, develops among superficial hyphae and old immature in notes branches, was my specimens. My are: perithecia 50-70 fi wide, black, subglobose, not rostrate, glabrous except for a fringe of short, unicel- subclavate hairs with around the lular, fuliginous walls, -15 X 3—4.5 n, ostiole;: with brown walls. mycelial hyphae 1—2.5 P wide, short-celled, REFERENCES CHURCH, A. H. (igig). Thalassiophyta and the subaerial transmigration. In Oxford botanical memoirs Oxford. 3. Clarendon Press, CORNER, E. J. H. (1964). The life of plants. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London. CORNER, E. J. H. (1966). The clavarioid complex of Aphelaria and Tremellodendropsis. In Trans. Br. Soc. mycol. 49: 205-211. EXPLANATION FIGURES OF 2, 3 of fertile Fig. 2. Paraphelaria amboinensis, part the surface ofa branch in longitudinal section, X 700. and old Fig. 3. Paraphelaria amboinensis, young basidia, hyphae, and (right) a young basi- dium before and the of from septation apex a growing hypha a branch-tip, X 700; mature and spores, spores developing on sterigmata, a hyphal branch, X 1400. CORNER: Paraphelaria, a new genus of Auriculariaceae 349 Fig. 2 PERSOONIA Vol. Part 350 4, 3, 1966 Fig. 3.