Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 88. (Budapest 1996)

Szedlay, Gy., Jakucs, E. , Bóka, K. ; Boldizsár, I.: Macro- and micromorphological characteristics of Ganoderma lucidum Karsten strains isolated in Hungary

cultures growing on MEA, which could not be described precisely because of the variability of these features within the two experiments or repetitions. This set of characters is much more suitable and much simpler than the one used before although it has been established for one species only. The macroscopical picture is rarely homogeneous. In the case of two-week-old cultures the mycelium mainly consists of several concentric circles of different structure. By the age of 6 weeks a coherent central region and a different peripherial part is usually formed. A visible brown colouration appears only after the second week. In the six-weekold cultures grown on PDA the coloured region is larger than in the MEA cultures. The presence of submers mycelium is commonly characteristic. In the case of six-week-old cultures it is weakly visible as it is covered by a surface hyphal layer. Initiative forms of fruit body formation is not characteristic of the isolates. Only one of the strains produced it regularly. The most characteristic of all is the picture of the two-week-old cultures on PDA, the data of which can be seen on Table 3. Microscopical morphology of the cultures Five features suitable for characterizing the differentiation rate of the cultures have been found. These are: 1

. the chlamydospores; 2. the thick generative hyphae; 3. the cuticular cells (thin- (Fig. 2) or thick-walled (Fig. 3), hyaline or brownish spherical cells originated from the generative hyphae); 4. the staghorn hyphae (Fig. 6) (cluster of frequently branched, thin walled, thin hyphae); 5. the presence of yellow pigment. It is generally true that in the two-week-old cultures on MEA no more than one of these characteristics appears. There were only two exceptions out of fifteen cases. In the two-week-old cultures on PDA differentiation is much more definite, especially in the central region. In the case of the two third of these cultures at least two of the differentiaTable 3. Characteristics of some 2-week-old mycelial cultures on PDA (explanation see in the text) Strains I 2 3 4 5 6 C17 c e e a + C64 c e a a CI 14 b a a, f a + CI 15 b a a, c a + CI 16 c b.c a, f a + CI 18 c a a a + CI 19 c a a, e, f a + -