Marthamyces desmoschoeni

Detailed description

The ascomata are 0.5–1 x 0.2–0.3mm, elliptic in outline, and develop within slightly bleached areas of the host leaf. They are not associated with an anamorph or zone lines. Unopened ascomata are pale to dark grey and pustulate. The ascomata open by a single longitudinal slit and, after opening, the covering host and fungal tissue folds back to expose the white, pruinose hymenium. Ascomata develop beneath the epidermal cells and the fibre bundles on the outside of the leaf. The ascospores are 60–75 x 2–3 µm and filiform-subspathulate in shape. Their widest point is near the apex but they taper rapidly distally, with the rest of the spore uniform in diameter. The spores are 1-septate and have a gelatinous cap at each end.