A Cytological Examination of Sphaerobolus Stellatus Fruiting Bodies

ABSTRACT

Fruiting bodies of Sphaerobolus stellatus collected in the field and grown in Petri dish culture were examined by light and electron microscopy at near maturity and at maturity (both pre-glebal discharge and post-discharge). Basidiospores, gemmae, and “fat cells” which comprise the ejected glebal mass were studied. The parenchyma cell layer and its underlying hyphal mat which are collectively involved in glebal ejection are nearly indistinguishable before and after ejection except for the marked diminution of a-glycogen rosettes in the parenchyma cell layer after discharge. The fat cells of the collenchyma layer making up the glebal surface broke down near fruiting body maturity and became amorphous masses of cellular debris with interspersed fragments of cellular membranes, most noticeably sets of parenthesomes. Following ejection of the glebal mass, previously germinated gemmae continued to grow and additional gemmae germinated. These constitute the germinal cell population in cultured material. Basidiospores did not germinate under normal laboratory conditions. The stickiness of the discharged glebal masses was clearly due to material from degraded collenchyma cells.

Key Words:

• Sphaerobolus
• fruiting body
• cytology