Daldinia clavata Henn.

TELEOMORPH | CULTURES AND ANAMORPH | SPECIMENS EXAMINED | NOTES

NOTES

Daldinia clavata, D. cuprea, and D. cudonia are the only Daldinia taxa that frequently have a definable stipe supporting the stroma. They differ in the former two taxa having a more robust stromatal stipe and smaller ascospore size ranges. Daldinia clavata has a geographical distribution in America and western Africa. Child (1932) considered D. clavata and D. albozonata to be distinct species. She used the stromatal shape to separate them: the former has clavate stromata, whereas the latter has turbinate or irregularly turbinate stromata. In fact, stromata in the type specimen of D. albozonata are highly variable, ranging from clavate to turbinate. Using stromatal shape to separate these two species seems therefore unjustified.

Child (1932) used the distribution of perithecia-whether confined to the upper portion of stroma or covering the entire stroma-and the conspicuousness of ostioles to differentiate D. cuprea from D. clavata. We examined the type materials of these two names and found that both of them are definitely stipitate and have their perithecia confined to the upper portion of stromata. Moreover, the ostioles of D. cuprea, in fact, are not more conspicuous than those of D. clavata. To some extent, Child (1932) believed that the stromatal interior of D. clavata collapses conspicuously and that this could be used to separate D. clavata from D. cuprea. When an assortment of collections is examined, the lighter concentric zones are seen to be in various stages of disintegration, from pithy to loosely fibrous. Material subjected to heat treatments tends to have more hollow and lighter colored concentric zones. Using different degrees of internal stromatal collapse to separate species is not supported here. However, these two species can be separated by using the conspicuousness of perithecial mounds and stromatal pigments. Daldinia clavata has a stromatal surface which is smooth or with inconspicuous perithecial mounds and has stromatal pigments that are purplish or lacking in KOH. Daldinia cuprea has a stromatal surface with very conspicuous perithecial mounds and has dark mouse gray stromatal pigments in KOH.

The cultures and anamorph of D. clavata highly resemble those of D. eschscholzii. These two fungi are separated primarily by the shape of stromata: the former is cylindrical to somewhat clavate and the latter is turbinate to placentiform. Moreover, Daldinia clavata is known primarily from Africa and America, whereas D. eschscholzii has a pantropical distribution.

The type of D. argentinensis var. sessilis at LPS consists of three fungi which were segregated into three packets by Child (1932, see the footnote on p. 477): Daldinia clavata, D. childiae, which was labelled as D. eschscholzii, and Hypoxylon placentiforme Berk. & M. A. Curtis. Child (1932) considered the D. clavata part as the type, i.e., the lectotype.