Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Ramaria rubripermanens

Ramaria_rubripermanens Marr & D.E. Stuntz

Gregarious to scattered (several) in soil in roadside forest, associated with Picea rubens and Abies balsamea – Lepreau Falls Provincial Park, New Brunswick (11-10-18/02).

Basidiospores light yellow brown in spore print, boletoid to subsigmoid, with fine diagonal ridges when viewed in profile and with ridges more vertically arranged in dorsi-ventral view, 9.0-11.5 X 3.5-4.6 μm, Q = 2.26-3.12 (average[54]: 10.2 X 4.1 μm, Q = 2.49)

Species of Ramaria are notoriously difficult to identify. Differentiation of species is usually based on subtile differences in colour amd branching. Most authors make primary subdivisions on the basis of basidiospore markings, which are best viewed in material stained with Cotton Blue (Methyl Blue) dye dissolved in lactic acid or lacto-phenol and viewed with a 100X oil immersion objective. Ramaria rubripermanens belongs to a group of species characterized by basidiospores with diagonal striations when viewed in profile. The rightmost four spores in the illustration here show this fairly clearly. The most commonly cited species in this group is R. botrytis, which also has pinkish branch tips and a rather stocky caulifolower-like growth form. It differs from R. rubripermanens in having the stipe staining wine red when bruised and in having larger basidiospores.

Photographs: D. Malloch (11-10-18]02).