Physalacria

Paddys River, ACT

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Identification history

	Physalacria	20 Jun 2016	Heino
	Unidentified	17 Jun 2016	KenT

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3 comments

KenT wrote:

17 Jun 2016

Thought this was an immature Mollisia when I saw it in the field, but now under magnification on the screen I don't know

Heino wrote:

17 Jun 2016

I suspect it is a species of Physalacria. It is a genus that I had long wanted to see and a few months ago found three of the same 1-2mm white balls on some wood in a old pile of woody prunings in my back yard. At first I thought it was a myxomycete new to me, but not so. I kept that bit of wood moist in a sealed tub and over some weeks harvested a good lot of specimens. They are rarely more than 2mm in diameter, are white to creamy and are hollow balls on short stalks. The spore-producing basidia line the outer surface but there are also abundant cystidia, which show macroscopically as very short bristles. With a macro lens they may photograph fairly well and one of your photos seems to show an abundance of bristles. You might want to see if you can add a crop showing the bristles. Some time in the next week or so I will have a go at identifying my specimens.

KenT wrote:

17 Jun 2016

Bristle photo added as image four

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