Coniocybe furfuracea (L.) Ach.
*Account prepared by Dr L. Tibell (Uppsala).
Mucor furfuraceus L. Sp. Pl.: 1185 (1753).
Thallus episubstratic, leprose, yellowish-green or sometimes almost completely immersed. Photobiont: Stichococcus. Apothecia 1.5-2.7 mm high, 17-40 times as high as width of stalk. Stalk 0.05-0.11 mm diam., black in lower part and ± pale in upper part but usually with a dense, yellowish-green pruina covering the surface. Young apothecia also covered by a thick, yellowish-green pruina. Stalk consisting of medium brown, periclinally arranged, often slightly undulating and sparingly branched hyphae. Capitulum spherical, 0.22-0.30 mm diam., with a dense, yellowish-green pruina and with thin, colourless, needle-like crystals protruding radially. Asci cylindrical to irregular in shape, 11.6-14.7 × 1.9-2.6 µm, spores uniseriate or partly biseriate. Asci formed in chains. Ascospores spherical or broadly ellipsoid, medium brown, smooth or with occasional cracks. Spherical spores 2.3-3.3 µm diam. Chemistry: Thallus containing vulpinic acid which also constitutes the yellowish-green pruina. Thallus K-, C-, KC-, Pd-.
N: North Auckland, South Auckland, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Wellington. S: Canterbury, Otago, Southland. Rather common on bark and decorticated stumps of old podocarps and Nothofagus in shaded and humid situations, 0-930 m.
Cosmopolitan
C. furfuracea is very widely distributed in the Northern Boreal - Temperate Zones of the Northern Hemisphere.
