Tylostoma pulchellum Sacc. sp. n.:

Saccardo, P.A. 1890(89). Notes Mycologiques. Bulletin de la Société Mycologique de France 5(2); 118 (Plate XIV, Figure 4).

-Minutum, breve stipitatum; stipite cylindraceo, glabro, longitrorsum striato, albido, basi bulboso-dilatato, 5 mm. long., 1,5 mm. cr., bulbo infra applanato; peridio membranaceo subgloboso 7-8 mm. diam., infra medium indumento crassiusculo asperulo friabili, amoene ochraceo vestito, supra nudo, cinereo-luteolo, tenuissime (sub lente) puberulo, ostiolo subrotundo pertuso, margine ostioli aequali; gleba cinnamomea, mox pulverea; sporis subglobosis, 5-6 µ diam., 1-guttatis, flavo-ferrugineis; floccis parce furcatis, hyalinis, inaequalibus, 4-7µ crass.

Hab. -Ad ramos? (26 ex p.)-Species eximia, a vero T. pusillo Berk. Lond. Journ. 1842, p. 157, t. VII, f. 40, differt indumento peridium dimidium obducente, ochraceo, scabro, sporis omnino levibus etc; a T. Cesatii Sacc. (T. pusillum Cesati et Syll. Fung. VII, p.64 nec Berk.) recedit quia triplo minor non rigidus nec corneus, stipite non setoso etc. Diagnosis genuini T. pusilli Berk. deest in Syll. Fung.; nomen T. pusilli Syll. l. c. in T. Cesatii mutandum et mensura sporarum 1,5µ in 3,5-4µ corrigenda.

Wright J.E. 1987. Bibliotheca Mycologia 113: 177.

Tulostoma pulchellum Saccardo. (Fig. 120; Pls. XVII: 1-4; XLIV:1; XLVI:4; XLIX: 2). - Bull. Soc. Mycol. France 5: 118, tab. XIV, fig. 4. 1889.

= T. poculatum White, Bull. Torrey bot. Cl. 28 (8): 431, t. 34, figs. 4-6. 1901.
= T. minutum White, ibid. 28 (8): 433, tab. 31, figs. 11-13. 1901.

Etym.: The name refers to the small size of the fruitbody.

Spore-sac almost globose to globose-depressed, up to 15 mm diam, easily separating from the stem. Exoperidium membranous, white within, and dark, generally brown outwardly, with particles of sand agglutinated with the hyphae in the lower portion of the spore-sac. Endoperidium ochraceous whitish with pink hues to slightly pinkish tan, finally smooth, rather tough. Mouth at first mammose, fibrillose, elastic, becoming fimbriate, darker or lighter than the rest of the endoperidium, sometimes denticulate, rather large for the size of the spore-sac (sometimes reaching 3-4 mm diam). Socket more or less conspicuous, more or less separated from the stem, membrane entire to lacerated. Gleba ochraceous to light ferrugineous. Stem up to 40 x 5 mm, light to dark dirty brown, slightly striate, not scaly, substraight, fragile.

Spores subglobose to elliptic, sometimes distorted, almost smooth under L.M., 4.5-6-(8) µm diam, yellowish to light brown with a rather thick episporium and a large guttula, apiculate, the apiculus sometimes very stout and slightly twisted; under SEM the ornamentation appears as very small and densely crowded, hemispheric verrucae, sometimes a group forming two or three rows simulating striae. Capillitium hyaline, subhyaline to coloured (in the holotype), scantily branched and septate; threads thick-walled, lumen visible to solid, slightly swollen at the coloured septa; 2.4-8.5 µm diam.

Habitat: sandy or clayish-sandy soils with scant vegetation, solitary or gregarious, generally in arid, semidesertic regions.

Distribution: North America: United States (California, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Wyoming), Mexico. South America: Argentina. Europe: France, Roumania. Africa: Middle Niger according to Patouillard. Middle East: Israel. Australasia: Australia, New Zealand.

Holotype: Australia, leg. Tepper (PAD!).

Illustration: Saccardo (op. cit.); White (1901); Cunningham (1925), both as T. poculatum White and T. minutum White; Long (1946), as T. poculatum White.