Galerina Hypnorum Fruiting on Cattail and in Pure Culture

Abstract

A gilled fungus identified according to descriptions by Smith and Singer (2) and by Kauffman (1) as Galerina hypnorum (Schrank ex Fr.) Kiihner fruited on the leaf sheaths of cattails (Typha latifolia L. and T. angustifolia L.) that had been transplanted into water tanks in the greenhouse. Eight fruit bodies developed on five different cattails during a 4-wk period in late June and early July. All of them developed on the shady side of the stem and on a portion of the leaf sheath that appeared to be senescent; typical examples are shown in FIGS. 1, 2. According to Smith and Singer (2), many species of Galerina require a special habitat such as mosses, conifer needles, burned ground, and hardwood logs. Kauffman (1) recorded that G. hypnorum usually occurs on mosses, but, so far as we are aware, this is the first report of its occurrence on Typha. Cultures of the fungus were obtained readily from cast spores placed on sterile agar, and were subsequently transferred to a number of media -potato dextrose, malt, cornmeal, Czapek Dox, and water agar with and without pieces of Typha leaves. Fruit bodies (FIG. 3) developed on the water agar containing portions of Typha leaves, but not on the other media tested, usually only one fruit body per dish or flask. 879