Xylaria culleniae

Xylaria culleniae belongs to the family Xylariaceae.[1][2] The species grows on fruits[3] and seeds are generally considered as host-specific. This species was collected from Sri Lanka during July 1868[4] by George Gardner (botanist) and George Henry Kendrick Thwaites[5] who was superintendent of the botanical gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon. The specimens were sent for identification to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew[6] in 1872.[4] There English botanists and mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome described this species in 1873.[4]

This species is reported from Sri Lanka,[4][3] China,[7] Thailand[8][9][10] and Anaimalai Hills Southern Western Ghats, India.[11] This species is also known to occur in Central America, South America and Africa.[12]

The fruit bodies are erect, elongated black branches, whitened from midway to tips. The hairs of stem is septate.[4] The ascospores (fruit bodies) of X. culleniae relatively smaller and the stromata are generally less robust. Spore dimensions are 8.5-9.5 X 3.5-4.5 μm.[12] Sporidia .016 X .005 - .006 mm.[13] Color of the spores are brown and are ellipsoid or inequilateral in shape. Germ slit is straight and long. Length of stroma is up to 7 cm.[12] Stromata unbranched or branched, cylindrical, long conical. Texture soft. Perithecia 0.1-0.3 mm diam. Ostioles minutely papillate.[10]

X. culleniae are recorded growing on Cullenia exarillata pods[14] hence the species name culleniae. It is assumed to be host-specific, however it has been recorded growing on and Inga sp. fruits[12] which is a Legume. Hence their host specificity is uncertain.[15]

Cullenia exarillata

GBIF