Wright J.E. 1987. Bibliotheca Mycologia 113: 196.

Tulostoma striatum G. H. Cunningham.(Fig. 138; Pls. XXI: 1-8; XXXV: 1-2;XL:1) Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. W. 50: 255. 1925.

Etym.: The name refers to the peculiar spore markings.

Spore-sac globose to globose-depressed, up to 19 mm diam,averaging 13 mm, easily separable from the stem. Exoperidium membranous, rather thick, white within and covered by sand particles which may become agglutinated, dark on the outside, falling off in fragments and persisting at the base. Endoperidium at first totally covered by the exoperidium, finally smooth in the upper half, ochraceous pinkish to almost white, to cinereous or even slightly cupreous, the most usual hue being ochraceous pinkish to light ochraceous; some specimens exhibit a peculiar pubescence due to the presence of submacroscopic structures which are dark and protruding; in some cases the hyphal inner portion of the exoperidium adheres to the endoperidium and forms small mats. Mouth fibrillose, at first scutellate, mammose, simulating a nipple, later becoming lacerate and fimbriate; in some specimens it is slightly sulcate, but never becomes denticulate; generally all the mouth is a hue lighter or darker than the remaining endoperidium, rarely the same colour. Socket well developed, separated from the stem, rather shallow, with a usually entire membrane. Gleba light brown to slightly ferrugineous. Stem always light-coloured, mostly some hue of yellowish tan or wood colour, not scaly, or only slightly squamulose, most times rugose, generally more slender in the middle portion, ending basally bluntly or club-shaped, longitudinally substriate, with the lower portion (1/3 to 1/2) thickened and covered with sand and detritus, 20-40 x 2-3 mm (in the thinnest part).

Endoperidium composed of hyphae similar to those of the capillitium but occasionally the external ones becoming pseudo-mycosclereids that remain uncoloured. Spores subglobose to irregularly elliptic, provided with prominent ribs, usually unequal, easy to observe under L.M., overpassing the surface of the spore in profile, sometimes notoriously so, others hardly visible, the ribs arranged as uneven meridians respective of the poles, with other ribs superimposed or intercalary, in an irregular pattern or all the ribs unevenly distributed; under SEM the ribs appear very distinct, sometimes over a smooth or slightly granulose surface; apiculate, guttulate when observed in KOH sol, generally light coloured, light brown to ochraceous, 4.5-7.5 µm diam, averaging 5.5 um. Capillitium subhyaline to yellowish, branched and septate; the threads slightly broadened at the scant, hardly tinged septa, thick-walled, lumen visible to scant or constricted, lacunar, 2.6-13.2 µm diam, averaging 3-6 µm diam; some threads exhibit lenticular processes on the surface (crystals?).

Habitat: typically psammophilous, in exposed or shaded places or in distinctly desertic zones, at sea level or high altitudes; typically gregarious.

Holotype: Australia: N. S. W., Forbes, leg. J. B. Cleland, 13.VIII. 1915 (AWD 5867!).

Illustration: A. H. Smith (1951: P1. 38, fig. 1).