Stictis radiata

On very damp decaying ground wood, with apothecia 0.5 to 0.9 mm in diameter, "fish-eye" in shape, with a dark brown to black interior and a raised, lacerate, whitish margin.

Asci very elongated, cylindrical, eight-spored, 250 to 290 µm long, 8 to 10 µm wide, with spores arranged in parallel within the ascus, twisting upon maturity to acquire a slightly spiral appearance, discharging through an apical orifice to resemble an octopus or squid with 8 arms, and inamyloid in Melzer's reagent or IKI.

Paraphyses simple or sparsely branched, hyaline, only 1 to 2 µm wide, with slight apical enlargements up to 3 or 4 µm, covered by a brownish amorphous substance, projecting slightly above the asci.

Ascospores filiform, very difficult to measure, 150 to 200 µm long according to literature, 2 to 3 µm wide, multiseptate, fragmenting at maturity into segments 5.5 to 9 µm long, with abundant granular content inside.

Herbarium material available: JTP1922/23.