Morphological Studies in Sordaria fimicola and Gelasinospora longispora

Abstract

Perithecium development in Sordaria, the type genus of the Sordariaceae, is similar to that reported in other genera of this family. Features that characterize the Sordariaceae include the differentiation of the hyphal envelope that surrounds the ascogonium into peripheral wall layers and a pseudoparenchymatous centrum. Broad paraphyses composed of delicate, multinucleate cells arise from the cells of the centrum and completely fill the perithecium, crushing the remaining pseudoparenchymatous cells against the perithecial wall. Sordaria fimicola differs from other species of Sordariaceae studied in the aggregation of the ascogenous cells to form a placenta-like mass in the base of the centrum. Consequently, the asci arise in a cluster rather than in a uniform wall layer. Incomplete observations on Gelasinospora longispora indicate that its development is typically sordariaceous.