Chaetothiersia vernalis
Fungal Diversity 28: 69. 2008.
Common Name: none
For description see Perry & Pfister & Siegel et al.
Gregarious to caespitose on decaying coniferous wood and bark and on woody debris in soil; fruiting in spring, Sierra Nevada mountains; uncommon.
Unknown.
Chaetothiersia vernalis can be recognized by relatively large, discoid to cupulate fruitbodies with dingy white to buff hymenium, tan external surface covered with matted brown hairs, large, smooth, ellipsoid spores, and growth on decaying wood and bark of red fir.
From the protologe by Perry & Pfister: "Chaetothiersia vernalis is characterized by the following combination of features: smooth, eguttulate, ellipsoid ascospores, brown, non-rooting, stiff superficial excipular and marginal hairs with obtuse apices; a dense medullary excipulum composed of textura intricata; a very thin ectal excipulum of globose to angular-globose cells; medium to rather large apothecia (relative to other members of Pyronemataceae); and growth on wood and woody debris associated with moisture produced by the Spring snowmelt in the High Sierra Nevada."
Etymology: "Chaeto", Latin for hairy, and "thiersia", in honor of Dr. Harry Thiers.
Beug, M.W., Bessette, A.E. & Bessette, A.R. (2014). Ascomycete Fungi of North America. University of Texas Press: Austin, TX. 488 p.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Perry, B.A. & Pfister, D.H. (2008). Chaetothiersia vernalis, a new genus and species of Pyronemataceae (Ascomycota, Pezizales) from California. Fungal Diversity 28: 65-72. (PDF)
Siegel, N., Vellinga, E.C., Schwarz, C., Castellano, M.A. & Ikeda, D. (2019). A Field Guide to the Rare Fungi of California's National Forests. Bookmobile: Minneapolis, MN. 313 p. (PDF)
