Sclerotinia verrucispora Baral, Z Mykol 55: 125 (1989) [MB # 135633].

Type.

GERMANY • Stuttgart-Plieningen: Hattenbach, at the base of an ash tree (Fraxinus), 7 May 1978, J. Pernpeintner (holotype: HB 2833, isotypes: CUP 61714 & JTP 4480).

Discussion.

This species was described from sclerotia found in soil near the base of an ash tree, but its host remains unknown (Baral 1989). Sclerotinia verrucispora meets the basic criteria for a Sclerotinia species in that it has definite, tuberoid sclerotia, single-celled, hyaline ascospores, and cells of the apothecial outer excipulum that are globose and oriented perpendicularly to the apothecial surface (Baral 1989). Baral (1989) considered this a distinct species based on the rough ornamentation of the ascospores, a feature not observed in the core species described by Kohn (1979). Additionally, Kohn (1979) described the sclerotial medullae of the core Sclerotinia species as “ textura oblita with strongly gelatinized walls, ” whereas sclerotia of S. verrucispora have loose, thin-walled textura intricata medullae that are “ intercellular with crystals ” and completely free from gel (Baral 1989). The species is mentioned only briefly in the publication describing S. glacialis (Graf and Schumacher 1995), and to our knowledge this is the only subsequent published use of the name S. verrucispora. DNA sequence data will be required to confirm the taxonomic placement of this species.