Plectania melaena
Plectania melaena (Fr.) Paden
Pseudoplectania melaena (Fr.) Sacc.
Pseudoplectania vogesiaca (Moug. & Nestl.) Seaver
Sarcosomataceae
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B2ab(i,iv); C2a(i)].
Morphology and biology. Fruit-bodies (apothecia) single, sessile, cup-shaped, 2–6 cm in diameter, black brown, covered with short, cylindrical, smooth, septate, black brown hairs; sometimes the lower part enlarged into a stalk, 0.2–1 × 0.2–0.4 cm; hymenium gray-black. Spores globose, 10–14 µm in diameter, unicellular with one big oil drop, hyaline. III–V.
Habitats and populations. On soil among mosses, on rotten stumps and twigs of fir (Abies alba).
Distribution in Bulgaria. Vitosha Region (Plana Mt), Strandzha Mts (above the village of Kosti).
General distribution. Europe, Asia, North America.
Threats. Habitat changes as result of livestock breeding, tourism, wood extraction, wood plantation, drought, limited distribution.
Conservation measures taken. Included in the Red List of Fungi in Bulgaria. Some localities are in sites of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Research into the biology and the ecology of the species; inclusion in the National monitoring system of the biological diversity.
References. Aleksandrov 1969; Gyosheva et al. 2006; Dimitrova & Gyosheva 2009.
Author: Evtimiya Dimitrova
