243 Environment & Ecology 31 (1A) : 243—246, January—March 2013 Website: environmentandecology.com ISSN 0970-0420 Notes on Ramaria fumigata Regarding its Occurrence and Plant Association in West Bengal, India Prakash Pradhan, Arun Kumar Dutta, Anirban Roy, Krishnendu Acharya Received 29 September 2012; Accepted 30 October 2012; Published online 16 November 2012 Abstract Ramaria fumigata, a member of the family Gomphaceae was collected from different places of West Bengal, India. Literature survey revealed that its occurrence and association with Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia auriculiformis was not reported earlier from this region. This paper deals with the morphological and ecological characteristics of the collected specimen. Key words Gomphales, Diversity, Macrofungi, New record, Ramaria fumigata. Introduction The state of West Bengal is rich in socio-environmental conditions, favoring growth and propagation of macrofungi. During the continuing investigation by the author’s group in the state, abundant populations of a species of Clavaroid macrofungi with violet shade were found growing at different sites of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth. plantation forest floors. Taxonomic and ecological investigations led to uncover the identity of this species to be Ramaria fumigata (Peck) Corner. K. Acharya* Molecular and Applied Mycology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University College of Science and Agriculture, Taraknath Siksha Prangan, University of Calcutta, Kolkata 700019, India P. Pradhan, A. K. Dutta, A. Roy West Bengal Biodiversity Board, Paribesh Bhawan, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700098, India e-mail: krish_paper@yahoo.com *Correspondence The genusRamaria was established by H.F. Bonorden in the year 1851 (1) and is considered to be one of the main genera of unspecialized Clavaroid macrofungi. Characteristic features of the genera includes radially branched, often vinescent or rufescent fruit-bodies with pale yellow, ochraceous, cinnamon or ferruginous spores; terrestrial to lignicolous habitat with monomitic and clamped hyphae (2). Currently the genera include 374 species which are distributed under 4 subgenera, 19 sections, 2 subsections and 13 series (1). Till date, 32 species of Ramaria had been reported from India (3—7). Earlier in the year 1956, Thind and Anand (8) had reported a variety of the species i.e., R. fumigata (Peck) Corner var. gigantea growing terrestrially in Chakrata Toll, Mussorie, U. P. (at present in Uttarakhand). Our current investigation focuses on the new record of occurrence of R. fumigata (Peck) Corner in West Bengal and also analyzes its plant associations. (This study was financially supported by the Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, India). Materials and Methods Field surveys were conducted during the monsoon season of 2009—2011 in various parts of West Bengal. Macrofungal samples were photographed, and their morphological and ecological features were characterized. Occurrence records were noted with Garmin etrex GPS system. Microscopic features were noted with the help of Carl Zeiss AX10 Imager A1 phase contrast microscope, and then samples were identified and preserved according to standard literatures (1, 9). The voucher specimens have been deposited 244 Fig. 1. Ramaria fumigata (Peck) Corner: (A) Basidiocarp, bar=1 cm; (B) Basidiospores, bar=10 µm; (C) Hyphae with clampconnections, bar=10 µm; (D) Basidia, bar=10 µm. with the accession code AMFH in the mycological Herbarium of University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Description of species Ramaria fumigata (Peck) Corner Basionym: Clavaria fumigata Peck Position in classification (1): Fungi, Basidiomycota, Agaricomycotina, Agaricomycetes, Phallomycetidae, Gomphales, Gomphaceae, Ramaria, R. fumigata. Sporocarp 2.3—3.9 cm high (Fig. 1A), dark grayish purple or violaceous colored, surface appearing velvety smooth, flesh tough, pallid violaceous; highly branched, mostly polychotomous, dichotomous only in upper 2/10th portion, branches 1.5—3 mm thick, crowed, often compressed, sometimes cylindric, arising out of a single stipe. Stipe 2—4 mm long × 2.5— 4.5 mm broad, solid, with basal whitish mycelia, mycelia adhered with the soil particles. Hyphae monomitic, hyaline, smooth, clamped (Fig. 1C), clamp present in all hyphae, clamps 0.9— 1.9 µm thick, hyphae turns pallid blue in KOH, branched, branches arising at the intercalary region. Hyphal region between two consecutive septa 31.52—59.1 × 4.79—6.3 µm. Basidium 35.46—36.5 × 7.88—8.67 µm (Fig. 1D), 2—4 sterigmatic, sterigmata 4.3—4.73 µm long, slender, slightly divergent and incurved at the apex, clamped at the base of each basidium, hyaline. Basidiospores 11.43—12.21 × 7.49—7.88 µm (Fig. 1B), [Q=1.5—1.58, Qav = 1.54, n = 30 from 3 collections each], uniguttulate, gutta 4.33— 5.91 × 3.94—5.12 µm, wall upto 0.6 µm thick, ornamented by cyanophilous, irregularly shaped and placed, shallow, rounded warts; truncate, with thin— walled lateral apiculus. Ecological notes : Habitat studies of various species of macrofungi by author’s group in different parts of West Bengal, have found that there was high degree of preference and association of this species with 245 Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia auriculiformis. This species is totally absent in Shorea robusta Gaertn. f. forest ecosystem (10), although is found to occur less abundantly in the ecotone region between the S. robusta and E. globulus and A. auriculiformis forest ecosystem. The basal whitish mycelial cords of R. fumigata had direct connections with the roots of E. globulus and A. auriculiformis forming ectomycorrhizal nodules. Specimen examined: India, West Bengal : West Midnapur, Kailibandh, 22.90190, 87.35850; 52 feet amsl., terrestrial, growing in ectomycorrhizal association with Eucalyptus globulus and Acacia auriculiformis, 05.07.2009, Krishnendu Acharya and Prakash Pradhan, AMFH436; Birbhum, Kohai, 23.69110, 87.67480; 58 feet amsl., terrestrial, growing in ectomycorrhizal association with E. globulus and A. auriculiformis, 16.07.2009, Prakash Pradhan, AMFH437; Bankura, Nakaijhuri, 23.04870, 87.19100; 91 feet amsl., terrestrial, growing in ectomycorrhizal association with E. globulus, 08.08.2009, Prakash Pradhan, AMFH435; Midnapur district, RamnagarII, Depal, Kasaphaltala, 21.72100, 87.51800; 36 feet amsl., growing in mycorrhizal association with E. globulus, 24.07.2011, Arun Kumar Dutta and Prakash Pradhan, AMFH 373. Remarks R. fumigata is a small to large ‘coral fungus’ with distinctive purplish-grey to purplish smokyochraceous coloration, and belongs to a small complex of Clavaroid taxa where purplish color predominates (9). The morphological features of this species is very close to Ramaria fennica (Karsten) Ricken., which is a topic of controversy, whether the later is synonymous with R. fumigata (11, 12). Immature fruitbodies of both the taxa have similar shades of greyish purple coloration. However, R. fennica when mature becomes mustard yellow at branches, while R. fumigata stays mostly the same, with branches slightly becoming alutaceous from spore pigmentation (9,12,13). Fawcett (14—16) noticed variations in color changes at the apex of R. fumigata and made an interesting suggestion that evolutionary transistions might be going between R. fumigata and R. fennica. Spore size of our collected specimens (11.43— 12.21 × 7.49—7.88 µm) shows little variation than that of the specimens described by Corner (1) from Sweden (9—11 × 4.5—6 µm), Morocco (6—12 × 4—6 µm), France (9—12.5×4—5 µm) and US (7.6— 11.9×4.2—5.5 µm). In India, the genera Ramaria has been reported to thrive in wide range of habitats and substrates, mostly as saprobes in humicolous soil, sometimes upon rotting stumps of logs and trees; among mosses; and have been associated with the forests of Cedrus deodara (Roxb.) Don., Cryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L.f.) Don, Quercus spp. (3, 17). During the earlier report (8) of R. fumigata from India, the mention of the species being ectomycorhizal was kept obscure even though it has been shown to be ectomycorrhizal (18—22) in the forest types dominated by the trees of Fagus, mixed Picea and Fagus as well as Eucalyptus spp. from around the world. Ectomycorrhizal activity of R. fumigata with Acacia auriculiformis has not been reported elsewhere. 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