Trichoglossum hirsutum


Trichoglossum hirsutum is a species of fungi in the family Geoglossaceae. They are commonly called black earth tongues.

Description

Trichoglossum hirsutum makes a black club shaped fungus 3 – 8 cm high. The spores are produced on the enlarged upper part, which is 5 to 8 mm wide, up to 2 cm high, flattened, spearhead-shaped to ellipsoid and finely velvety. The flesh is thin, tough and brownish. The stem is up to 6 cm long and 2 – 3 mm thick, cylindrical and velvety. Spores 80 - 195 x 5 - 7 micrometers, cylindric-clavate, broadest in the middle and tapering to the blunt ends, with 15 septa. The asci each have 8 spores. The paraphyses are brown, cylindric and coiled at the tips.

Systematics

Trichoglossum hirsutum was first described as Geoglossum hirsutum in 1797 by Persoon. In 1907, Jean Louis Émile Boudier published it as Trichoglossum hirsutum.
The epithet hirsutum refers to the fine hairs that cover the fruit body.

Location

Trichoglossum hirsutum is found in woodlands in North America, Europe, Macaronesia and Africa. It is listed as an endangered species in Lithuania.

Similar species

Trichoglossum walteri is similar but has spores 50 - 115 micrometers, with 7 divisions.