Phillipsia subpurpurea Berk. & Broome, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot., Ser.

Ekanayaka, Anusha H., Bhat, D. J., Hyde, Kevin D., Jones, E. B. Gareth & Zhao, Qi, 2017, The genus Phillipsia from China and Thailand, Phytotaxa 316 (2), pp. 138-148 : 144-147

Phillipsia subpurpurea Berk. & Broome, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot., Ser. 2 2(3): 69 (1883) Fig. 4

Facesoffungi number: FoF 02869

Description:— Saprobic on dead stems. Sexual morph: Apothecia 10–30 mm diam. × 5–10 mm height when fresh, scattered, sessile or sub-stipitate, cupulate, creamy and white except for the upper disc surface, receptacle flat or slightly concave, lower side white to creamy when fresh, leathery, margins concolorous to receptacle, disc purple-red. Ectal excipulum 30–80 μm composed of yellowish cells of textura oblita to epidermoidea. Medullary excipulum 0.1–5 mm composed of thin-walled, tightly arranged cells of textura intricata. Subhymenium composed of gelatinized cells of textura intricata. Hymenium 350–550 μm, yellowish. Paraphyses 4–5 μm wide, numerous, filiform, septate. Asci 470–530 × 25–30 μm, long stipitate, cylindrical, suboperculate, 8-spored. Ascospores 30–40 × 15–20μm, uniseriate, elliptical, apiculate, guttulate, hyaline, smooth or very faint 2–3 striations, immature ascospores with thick gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Undetermined.

Material examined:— China, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden, Menglun, Mengla County, on rotten wood, October 12, 2015, S. C. Karunarathna NB70 (MFLU16-0612).

Notes:— Phillipsia subpurpurea is characterized by white to cream-coloured apothecia with a purple disc ( Denison 1969). Phillipsia subpurpurea is similar to P. domingensis in having similar apothecial shape, colour and excipular structures. Several earlier authors have synonymized this species under P. domingensis ( Seaver 1913, Denison 1969, Hansen et al. 1999), while some authors recognized this as separate species ( Le Gal 1953, Rifai 1968). However, P. subpurpurea differs from P. domingensis in having larger asci, large ascospores with smooth-walled or vary faint 2–3 striations and paraphyses without pigments. Although Berkeley and Broome (1883) have recorded ascospores with smooth walls, Le Gal (1953) and Rifai (1968) recorded the presence of ascospore striations in P. subpurpurea . In our collection, we did not observe clear ascospore striations, but observed immature ascospores with sheath which was not recorded before. However, as all the morphological characters in our collection are similar to the P. subpurpurea description made by Berkeley and Broome (1883), except for the presence of a gelatinous sheath, we name this collection as P. subpurpurea .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Phillipsia subpurpurea (MFLU16-0612). a. Apothecia on wood, b. Vertical section of an apothecium, c–e. Cylindrical asci, f. Sub operculate apical apex, g. Septate paraphyses, h–m. Ellipsoid ascospores. Scale bars: b=400 μm, c–e=100 μm, f, g=50 μm, h–m=30 μm.