• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.104-107
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• 2009

Mitrula paludosa (Geoglossaccae, Helotiales, Ascomycetes) is reported about morphological and ecological characteristics for the first time in Korea. The mushroom fruited on rotten pine leaves or fine twigs in ditches with flowing or standing water in Sogri Mountain National Park from May to June. The apothecium of M. paludosa is 20 to 50 mm tall. The cap is bright yellow to orange, cylindrical to wrinkled ovoid and $5{\sim}10\;{\times}\;10{\sim}20$ mm. The stem is whitish and cylindrical distinctly set off from the cap. The ascospore is hyaline, smooth long elliptical fusoid with round ends and $13{\sim}17\;{\times}\;1.5{\sim}2.0{\mu}m$. The ascus is unitunicate, $90{\sim}110\;{\times}\;5{\sim}6{\mu}m$, and has eight spores biseriately lined to the inoperculate apex. Paraphyses are septate filiform, $95{\sim}120\;{\times}\;1.0{\sim}1.5{\mu}m$, $7{\sim}10{\mu}m$ longer than the asci.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.213-218
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• 2022

The genus Mitrula (Mitrulaceae, Helotiales), as also known as swamp beacons, inhabits submerged, decaying vegetation in standing or decaying needles, twigs, leaves, and shallow water. They play an important role in carbon cycling in some freshwater ecosystems. In the herbarium of the Korea National Arboretum (KH), seven Mitrula specimens were collected during mushroom forays in the period from 2019 to 2021. The Korean collections were found to be macromorphologically closely related to M. paludosa and M. elegans, but micro-morphologically they could be distinguished by characteristics of slightly narrower asci and aseptate ascospores. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S rDNA regions also revealed that our specimens were related to M. paludosa and M. elegans, but formed a distinct clade. Based on these results, we reported our specimens as new to science and discussed the phylogeny and diversity of Mitrula species.