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 Ramariopsis tortuosa
BiostatusPresent in region - Indigenous. Endemic
Article: Petersen, R.H. (1988). The clavarioid fungi of New Zealand. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Bulletin 236: 170 pp. Wellington:.
Description: Fruit bodies up to 2 x 1.5 cm, branched, hardly arbuscular, with all parts twisted and
gnarled, white, slowly changing to tan here and there (not hysterochroic from base),
perhaps in a sub-hygrophanous reaction. Stipe up to 4 x 3 mm, terete to somewhat
flattened, arising without a basal pad, inserted nakedly in substrate. Branches in 1-3
ranks, terete to flattened, especially in drying; axils rounded, flattened; internodes
diminishing gradually; apices awl-shaped, usually minute, white. Taste and odour
negligible.
Macrochemical reaction: FCL on hymenium slate-olive.
Tramal hyphae of branches hardly inflated, hyaline, clamped, more or less free, straight to
sinuous, parallel. Subhymenium extensive, of inflated, tortuous hyphae when young, later
becoming pseudo-parenchymatous. Hymenium thickening significantly, including embedded
spores; basidia 28-35 x 6 µm, subcylindrical, clamped, hyaline; sterigmata 4, straight,
spindly. Spores 3.2-4.0 x 2.5-3.2 µm (E =1.22-1.57; Em =1.34; Lm = 3.78 µm), ellipsoid to
ovate, smooth, hardly dextrinoid, thin-walled; contents uniguttulate when fresh, the
guttule small, distal, refringent; hilar appendix prominent, papillate.
Habitat: Under Pinus rigida on soil.
Notes: COMMENTARY: In micromorphology, this comes close to Ramariopsis subtilis (Pers.:
Fr.) Pet. from the Northern Hemisphere, with smooth, ellipsoid spores and white,
branched fruit bodies. The spores of R. subtilis are larger than those of R. tortuosa,
however, and fruit body morphology differs significantly - fruit bodies of R. subtilis are
arbuscular, as are those of R. corniculata, whereas those of R. tortuosa are gnarled and
dry with strap-shaped branches.
Whether or not the spores of Ramariopsis tortuosa are truly smooth cannot be ascertained
at x2250, where they still appear smooth. The dextrinoid reaction is so weak as to be
unobservable, except where several spores overlap. Some areas of the outer
subhymenium or old crushed basidia seem also to show a weak dextrinoid reaction in IKI.
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