Earth Tongues

Earth Tongues
The little black "Earth Tongues" of the Geoglossaceae family are a nightmare to identify--but if you are a microscope geek, they often reward you with fascinating and funky microscopic features

The fruit bodies of Geoglossum species are usually club-shaped, with a surface that is dry to sticky or gelatinous (particular in wet weather), and brown to black. The hymenium (spore-bearing surface) is confined to the upper club-shaped part of the fruit body. Stipes are slender and cylindrical, with a surface texture ranging from smooth to squamulose (covered with tiny scales), or, in some instances, covered with tufts of tiny hairs.

The asci are club-shaped, inoperculate (without a cap or lid), and usually contain eight ascospores. These spores are club-shaped to somewhat cylindrical to somewhat fusiform. Brown to hyaline in color, there are both septate and non-septate forms (or, in some species, a combination of the two). There are paraphyses mixed with the asci, and in some species these occur on the stipes scattered or grouped together so as to form small tufts or scales. In some species they are spread out on the stipe surface as a continuous gelatinous layer.

Know more:
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/geoglossum_nigritum.html

Photo credits:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ophis/6256747621

#mushrooms   #earthtongues   #botanics