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Stromatal shape is fairly uniform among Daldinia
taxa, usually placentiform, spherical, or depressed-spherical and sessile to subsessile.
The exceptions are D.
clavata, D.
cudonia, and D.
cuprea which frequently produce stipitate, cylindrical to clavate stromata.
The stromatal surface is usually smooth. A given species often has a smooth stromatal
surface in some collections and a surface with inconspicuous to conspicuous perithecial
mounds in others. Daldinia cuprea has very conspicuous perithecial
mounds. Daldinia
lloydii is peculiar in having a squamulose surface. The lighter
concentric zones of stromata are of great taxonomic value in terms of their consistency
and color. Two types of the lighter concentric zones are found among Daldinia
species: one type is brown, grayish brown, or, less frequently, whitish, pithy to woody,
persistent; the other type is whitish, gelatinous, disintegrating and, when dry, becoming
loculate with locules separated by translucent membranous material. Most species yield
purplish stromatal pigments in KOH, but some collections of these species lack
KOH-extractable pigments. Daldinia
bakeri, D.
childiae, and D.
mexicana yield greenish to yellowish pigments in KOH. Daldinia
cuprea yields dark mouse gray pigments in KOH. Dargan and Thind (1984)
erected subgenera Eu-Daldinia Dargan & Thind and Ento-Daldinia
Dargan & Thind based upon stromatal anatomy. We were unable to observe differences
with sufficient consistency to assign taxa to one or to the other of these subgenera. We
thus do not recognize subgenera herein. Many specimens observed by us, however, were
overmature. Study of fresh specimens in their prime might cause us to reconsider the
subgeneric concept of Dargan and Thind (1984). |
