Lanzia echinophila

An ascomycete strictly associated with the inner lining of decaying sweet chestnut burs (Castanea sativa).

The ascoma is cup-shaped, flattening with age, measuring up to 1 cm across, with a dark brown hymenium and a paler external surface.

The stipe is concolorous with the rest of the apothecium, sometimes well developed, at other times very short or deeply embedded in the bur tissue.

The specimens studied belong to a collection made in September in a small woodland of Castanea sativa, on old degraded burs, in the municipality of Baztan (Navarra).

An additional photograph of a previous find made and generously provided by Héctor Santesteban in Lantz (Navarra) is also included.