Heterocorticium bambusicola

Heterocorticium bambusicola S.H. He, T. Nie & Yue Li 2023, in Li et al., Journal of Fungi, 9(318), 7, (2023).

Etymology: refers to its preferred substrate, bamboo.

Diagnosis: Basidiomes annual, resupinate, effused, closely adnate, inseparable from substrate, coriaceous, first as small colonies, later confluent up to 20 × 5 cm, up to 120 µm thick in section. Hymenophore smooth, orange white (6A2), orang grey (6B2), greyish orange [6B (3–6)] to brownish orange [6C (3–6)], not cracked; margin thinning out or abrupt, distinct and white (6A1) when juvenile, indistinct and concolorous with hymenophore when mature. Microscopic structures—Hyphal system monomitic; generative hyphae with clamp connections. Subiculum thin, with many crystals adjacent to substrate; hyphae in this layer colorless, thin-walled, frequently branched and septate, slightly agglutinated, densely interwoven, 1–3 µm in diam. Cystidia absent. Dikaryophyses numerous, forming a light brown layer in hymenium, colorless, thin-walled, frequently branched. Basidia embedded, ovoid to subglobose, longitudinally septate, four-celled, without enucleate stalk, 13–20 × 9–11 µm. Basidiospores cylindrical with a distinct apiculus, slightly curved, colorless, thin-walled, smooth, IKI–, CB–, with oily contents, capable of germinating by repetition, 10–14 × 5–6 µm, L = 11.5 µm, W= 5.5 µm, Q = 1.8–2.4 (n = 60/2).

Index Fungorum Number: IF847442

Notes: Heterocorticium bambusicola is widely distributed in southern China on bamboo and was also found in Malaysia. It is characterized by thin, resupinate, coriaceous basidiomes, smooth hymenophore, and well-developed dikaryophyses. The other species in the genus, H. latisporum, differs from H. bambusicola by having grayish brown hymenophore and wider basidiospores.