Mary E. Palm

Molecular phylogeny of Leptosphaeria and Phaeosphaeria

The objectives of this study were to determine the phylogenetic relationships of species of Leptosphaeria and Phaeosphaeria and evaluate the phylogenetic significance of morphological characters of the teleomorph, anamorph, and host. Sequences of the entire ITS region, including the 5.8S rDNA, of 59 isolates representing 54 species were analyzed and the phylogeny inferred using parsimony and distance analyses. Isolates grouped into three well-supported clades. The results of this study support the separation of Phaeosphaeria from Leptosphaeria sensu stricto. Leptosphaeria bicolor and the morphologically similar Leptosphaeria taiwanensis formed a separate, well-supported clade. We conclude that peridial wall morphology, anamorph characteristics, and to a lesser extent host, are phylogenetically significant at the generic level. Ascospore and conidial morphology are taxonomically useful at the species level.

Systematics of Paraphaeosphaeria : a molecular and morphological approach

The genus Paraphaeosphaeria (Loculoascomycetes) was described as a segregate of Leptosphaeria for species producing brown, usually punctate ascospores with rounded ends, a submedian primary septum, an inflated cell above the primary septum, and a Coniothyrium sensu lato anamorph. This study evaluated the taxonomic value of the morphological characters, host range, ecology, and anamorphs in relation to DNA sequence data in order to determine the relationship between species described in Paraphaeosphaeria. Nine species were characterized morphologically and the ITS and 18S regions of the rDNA were sequenced and a phylogeny was inferred. Morphological studies and results of the sequence analyses provide strong support for polyphyly of this genus. Based on these analyses, the concept of Paraphaeosphaeria should be narrowed to reflect a monophyletic generic concept. Characters such as spore septation and method of conidiogenesis were found to predict relatedness.

Neophaeosphaeria and Phaeosphaeriopsis , segregates of Paraphaeosphaeria

Two new genera, Neophaeosphaeria and Phaeosphaeriopsis, are described to accommodate species of Paraphaeosphaeria that are not congeneric based on morphological characters and results of 18S rDNA sequence analyses. Paraphaeosphaeria s. str. is restricted to species with two-septate ascospores and anamorphs that produce non-septate, smooth, pale brown conidia enteroblastically from phialides which have some periclinal thickening. Species in Neophaeosphaeria have 3-4-septate ascospores and anamorphs that produce ovoid to ellipsoid, non-septate, brown, verrucose or punctate conidia from percurrently proliferating conidiogenous cells. Paraphaeosphaeria barrii, P. conglomerata, P. filamentosa and P. quadriseptata are transferred to Neophaeosphaeria. At present all species in Neophaeosphaeria occur on Yucca (Agavaceae). Phaeosphaeriopsis is described for species that produce 4-5-septate ascospores. Known anamorphs produce cylindrical, 0-3-septate, brown, punctate conidia from percurrently proliferating conidiogenous cells or bacillar conidia from simple phialides. P. agavensis, P. glauco-punctata, P. nolinae and P. obtusispora are transferred to Phaeosphaeriopsis. P. amblyspora is described as a new species.

Puccinia hemerocallidis, Cause of Daylily Rust, a Newly Introduced Disease in the Americas

A rust of daylilies was introduced recently into North and Central America. In order to confirm the identity of this rust as Puccinia hemerocallidis, numerous specimens from Costa Rica and the United States were examined morphologically and compared with specimens from China, Japan, Russia, and Taiwan. In addition, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA was sequenced from six representative fresh specimens from the Americas and Asia. We conclude that the rust introduced into the Americas is P. hemerocallidis, for which a modern description is provided with illustrations of the uredinial and telial stages.

On the Typification of Suillus (Boletaceae, Basidiomycotina)

The change in starting-point date enacted at the 1981 International Botanical Congress in Sydney, Australia, created the need to completely revise author and bibliographic citation for the generic name Suillus. The genus must also be lectotypified because Suillus luteus (L.: Fr.) S. F. Gray (ut [Schaeff.]), heretofore considered the type species, is unacceptable in that position. Micheli (1729) was the first to use Suillus as a generic name. The name was applied to 25 species ofboletes. Michelis name predates Linnaeus (1753) and is not valid. Under the pre-Sydney Code the first valid publication of Suillus was by Gray (1821). Gray attributed the generic name to Micheli (1729) but included only Boletus luteus Schaeff. in his monotypic genus. As Donk (p. 303-304, 1955) stated Since the one species he [Gray] retained under it [Suillus] is at least very doubtfully acceptable as the type of Suillus Mich., his emendation should rather be considered a misapplication which by the introduction of the later starting-point for these fungi acquired the status of a new genus .... Due to the recent change in starting-point date, Adansons (1763) use of the name Suillus now constitutes the first valid use of the generic name. The correct citation is therefore Suillus Micheli ex Adans., Fam. PI. 2: 10. 1763. Suillus granulatus (L.: Fr.) Kuntze is the appropriate choice for type species of Suillus and S. luteus is unacceptable in that position. As indicated previously, Boletus luteus Schaeff. was the only species included by Gray (1821) in Suillus and consequently S. luteus has heretofore been considered the type species of Suillus. Suillus granulatus satisfies a criterion essential for selection of a lectotype not met by S. luteus. The lectotype must have been included by either Micheli (1729) or Adanson (1763) or both. Adanson (1763) cited Mich. t. 68, 69. in his delimitation of Suillus but listed no species names. Fries (1821) cited Mich. t. 69. f. I as a synonym of Boletus granulatus L. This plate and figure correspond to Michelis (1729) Suillus esculentus, crassus, viscidus, supere obscurus, inferne subluteus, pediculo brevi, tenui, concolore, punctis, & lituris rubris notato Tab. 69. fig. I. Fries (1821) presumably did not believe that any of Michelis species represented Boletus luteus L. because none of Michelis species or figures were identified by Fries as B. luteus. Therefore S. luteus is not clearly synonymous with any of Michelis species. Additionally, typification of Suillus by S. granulatus conserves the current usage of Suillus. For these reasons we designate S. granulatus lectotype of Suillus.

Emory Guy Simmons 1920-2013.

Early life.—Emory was born 12 April 1920, in Hillsboro, Fountain County, Indiana, the son of Floyd and Estel May McAlister Simmons, the middle child of three girls and two boys. He was very fond of Minnie, his maternal grandmother, called ‘‘Dolly’’ by everyone, who lived with the family. The family moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana, before Emory entered school to a home whose former location is now marked by second base of the Wabash College baseball field. Emory attended schools in Crawfordsville and graduated from Wabash College in 1941. During his days at Wabash he described gigs playing piano on Saturday nights in ‘‘juke joints where there were gangsters and fights’’. Often he would play the organ for church services the following morning. Music was to remain important to him throughout his life. Emory served in the Army (1942–1945) north Africa and Italy campaigns; he was one of the last members of the Mycological Society of America (MSA) to have been involved in World War II. Pvt. Emory Simmons was assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Forces, Culver City, California, where he was trained to use a military-issue Speed Graphic, 435 format, probably a C-3, camera. He soon was promoted to staff sergeant and had several temporary promotions to technical sergeant. In Dec 1942 he was transferred to the 9th Combat Camera Unit XII ASAF AC and traveled abroad for the first time. As attested to by a certificate signed by the fictional Davy Jones, on his first trip Emory crossed the equator on ‘‘censored’’ date at ‘‘censored’’ longitude; the censored ship, later revealed as the ‘‘Mariposa,’’ crossed the equator as it headed to Rio de Janeiro for refueling on its way to the Mediterranean. He spent time in Cairo, where he recalled playing many games of bridge. As a photographer, he was sent to Palestine and Syria in late Apr 1943 and later to Bari, Italy. In early Feb 1944 Emory returned to Culver City where the 9th Combat Camera Unit received battle honors with a distinguished unit badge. After the war Emory returned to Indiana where he attended DePauw University, Greencastle. He received a master of arts degree (1946) with a thesis, ‘‘A monographic study of the Indiana species of the stromatic Sphaeriales’’. He acknowledged Truman G. Yuncker and Winona H. Welch of the Botany Department for ‘‘resources of information, advice and friendly encouragement made freely available’’ during his study; they perhaps were his major professors, although not stated. Emory spent the next four years at the University of Michigan where he worked on his doctorate, using cultural methods to study ascomycetes. Although his advisor, Louis E. Wehmeyer, did not encourage culture work, Emory wanted to determine the amount of variation within fungi grown on different media and to establish teleomorph-anamorph connections observed from single-ascospore cultures. After completing his degree at Michigan (1950) Emory moved to Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was an instructor at Dartmouth College (1950–1953) before moving to the Quartermaster Culture Collection.